i\ 


<$'p  \f(>V 


•t'? 


t. 


■%■': 


Please 

handle  this  volume 

with  care. 

The  University  of  Connecticut 
Libraries,  Storrs 

»  ^  »  »  »■»  ^  »  »  » 


hbl,  stx  F       104.P7A8 

History  of  the  town  of  Plymouth,  C 


3    T1S3    DObOElEB    M 


^ 


o 

00 


.HISTORY 

OF   THE 

TOWN  OF  PLYMOUTH 

CONNECTICUT    . 


WITH    AN    ACCOUNT   OF  THE 


Centennial  Celebration 

May  14  and  15,  1895. 


Also  a  Sketch  of  Plymouth,  Ohio 

Settled  bv  Local  Families. 


COMPILED  BY 

FRANCIS  xATWATER. 


Printed,  Illustrated  and  Bound  by 

THE  JOURNAL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

MERIDEN,  CONN. 

1895- 


PREFATORY   WORDS. 


T 


HIS  book  is  hereby  taken  possession  of"  ibr  tiie  insertion  of 

a  few 

Prefatory   Words, 


to  be  spoken,  independently  of  him  whose  production  it  is,  to 
vou  whom  it  cordially  greets,  as,  honoring  it  with  your  attention, 
you  are  now  about  to  turn  its  pages,  and  aided  by  the  illustra- 
tions which  embellish  it,  peruse  with  more  or  less  care  its  record 
of  the  people  and  the  times  that  have  been  in  this  ancient  town. 
When  residents  of  Plymouth  made  known  their  purpose  to 
observe  with  appropriate  celebration,  upon  May  14  and  15,  1S95, 
the  first  centennial  of  the  setting  oft^  of  the  town,  among  many  to 
whom  this  intelligence  was  of  great  interest  was  one,  who,  born 
and  reared  till  the  period  of  A^outh  in  the  town,  had  then  gone 
elsewhere,  an  orphan  boy,  to  seek,  or  rather  under  God  to  make 
his  fortune,  and  after  varied  experience  in  the  remote  West  as 
well  as  in  the  East  had  at  length  won  his  way  to  become  the 
head  of  a  leading  publishing  house  located  in  one  of  the  cities 
of  Connecticut.  Cherishing  with  fond  and  grateful  affection  the 
memories  of  his  early  years  he  recognized  in  the  projected  cele- 
bration an  opportunity  of  rendering  a  tribute  of  filial  regard  to 
his  native  town.  Hardly  had  the  wish  sprung  up  within  him, 
akin  to  that  which  "heaved  the  breast"  of  the  peasant  poet  of 

Scotland, 

"That  1,  lor  poor  aukl  Scotland's  sake, 
Some  usefu'  plan  or  book  could  make," 

before  it  matured  into  the  purpose,  which  at  length  materialized 
in  the  result  of  a  Some/iir  History  of  Plymouth^  a  quarto  volume  of 
ninety-one  pages,  which  appeared  fresh  from  the  press  on  the 
day  of  the  Centennial  celebration,  and  was  one  of  the  most 
appropriate  and  pleasing  features  of  that  memorable  occasion. 
It  had  been  accepted  in  advance  as  the  only  authorized  publica- 


4  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

tion  of  the  sort  in  connection  with  the  day  ;  and  a  thousand 
copies  were  donated  to  the  town  to  aid  in  defraying  tlie  expenses 
incidental  to  the  celebration.  But  the  compiler  having  collected 
much  valuable  information  bevond  what  entered  into  the  Som'einr 
Historv  in  its  original  form,  could  not  be  content  with  so  limited 
a  publication  ;  neither  was  he  willing  that  a  work  which  of 
necessity  had  been  hurriedly  produced,  with  unavoidable  errors 
detracting  from  its  value,  should  be  the  finality  of  his  endeavors 
to  hand  on  to  the  future  a  volume  which  should  be  at  once  a 
contribution  to  the  history  of  his  native  town,  and  a  memorial  of 
the  first  centennial  celebration  of  its  organization.  It  was  in  his 
purpose  also  that  the  book  in  its  ultimate  scope  should  include  a 
full  account  of  the  centenary.  Accordingly  he  regarded  the 
volume  issued  at  that  time  as  a  provisional  publication  pre- 
paratory to  one  more  complete  and  accurate  which  should  follow 
it  at  the  earliest  practicable  date.  Hence  this  book.  It  is  the 
tribute  of  a  son  of  Plymouth  to  his  civic  mother  upon  the 
hundredth  anniversary  of  her  life.  The  production  of  it  has 
been  a  labor  of  love  and  has  involved  months  of  unwearied  efibrt 
including  many  journeys  and  a  large  expenditure  of  means,  not 
indeed  without  hope  of  pecuniary  return,  but  with  a  generous 
purpose  unrestricted  bv  considerations  of  personal  gain.  It  has 
not  been  the  product  of  one  hand  alone,  but  while  many  col- 
laborators have  contributed  to  it,  the  casting  of  the  whole,  and 
much  of  the  composition  of  it,  have  been  the  work  ot  him  with 
whom  the  design  of  the  book  had  its  origin.  As  it  now  goes 
forth  in  its  concluding  form,  that  were  an  unworthy  omission 
which  should  leave  unspoken  any  mention  of  the  public  spirit, 
the  amor  patriae  which  has  had  expression  in  the  production  of 
this  volume,  as  tender  and  true  as  was  manifested  by  those  other 
sons  of  Plymouth  who  wore  the  blue  in  the  war  for  the  Union. 
And  so  upon  this  opening  page  his  appreciative  townsmen  and 
friends  inscribe  the  name  of 

Francis   Atwater, 

with    grateful    acknowledgement  of  the   honorable  and   amiable 
spirit  manifested  by  him  in  giving  being  to  this  memorial. 

Lcvcreit  Steanis   Griggs. 


INTRODUCTION. 


^T^HE  history  of  the  Town  of  Plymouth  herewith  presented  is 
as  near  complete  as  can  now  be  obtained.  The  early 
period  is  not  as  thoroughly  covered  as  one  could  wish  from  the 
fact  that  the  traditional  circumstances  handed  down  cannot  at 
this  late  day  be  verified.  The  towm  recouls  in  the  first  years 
were  looselv  kept  and  aiTord  meagre  information,  while  to  go 
still  further  back  to  those  of  Watertown  and  Waterburv,  of 
which  towns  Plymouth  was  formerly  a  part,  it  is  impossible  to 
define  strictly  the  portions  relating  to  Northbury  parish  as  it  was 
then  known.  The  author,  however,  in  the  matter  now  pre- 
sented, has  taken  great  pains  to  have  the  details  as  near  correct 
as  it  is  possible  to  get  them.  The  Souvenir  History  published  as 
a  feature  of  the  Centennial  Celebration  of  the  incorporation  of 
the  town  May  14  and  15,  1S95,  contained  considerable  here 
reprinted,  but  as  it  was  accompanied  with  the  request  that  any 
errors  or  omissions  be  corrected  by  those  interested,  it  is  pre- 
sumed as  the  book  now  goes  forth  the  facts  can  be  relied  upon. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  only  the  fragmentary  history  of  the 
ancient  parish  of  Northbury  in  revolutionary  times  can  be  col- 
lated. It  is  known  that  several  of  her  loval  sons  gained  honor- 
able distinction  of  which  mention  is  made,  that  many  others 
participated  of  whom  no  trace  exists,  and  that  the  material  facts 
which  would,  be  of  great  interest  to  the  descendants  of  these 
soldiers,  have  been  lost  sight  of  and  are  be3ond  recall.  This 
parish  can  claim  one  honor,  however,  that  no  other  is  entitled  to, 
in  being  the  birthplace  of  the  last  pensioner  of  the  revolutionary 
war. 

A  feature  of  this  volume  which  will  be  found  interesting  is  a 
sketch  of  Plymouth,  Ohio,  settled  by  former  well  known  residents 
of  this  town,  the  descendants  of  whom  now  ninnl)er  some  400  or 
500,  many  of  whom  still  reside  there.  There  are  other  tow^ns  in 
Ohio  called  Plvmouth,  and  to  designate  one  from  the  other  the 


6  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

one  referred  to  has  been  named  East  Plymouth  by  the  post  office 
authorities. 

The  book  is  given  up  largely  to  biographical  sketches  and 
portraits,  as  it  is  due  to  the  genius,  skill  and  enterprise  of  the 
townspeople  that  Plymouth  lays  claim  to  such  a  grand  historic 
career  which  every  son  and  daughter  may  glorify  and  feel  proud 
of.  It  was  here  that  Eli  Terry  developed  his  wonderful  inven- 
tions which  made  American  clock-making  what  it  is  to-day. 
The  names  of  Seth  Thomas,  Silas  Hoadley,  Chauncey  Jerome, 
and  Hiram  Camp,  all  former  residents  of  Plymouth,  have  since 
become  famous  in  this  line.  In  the  past  century  the  business  has 
grown  to  vast  proportions,  and  millions  upon  millions  of  clocks 
have  gone  forth  from  Connecticut  alone.  Other  names  deserving 
of  the  highest  praise  are  those  of  James  Terry  and  Sereno  Gay- 
lord,  who  it  is  safe  to  say,  were  the  successful  founders  of  the 
cabinet  and  trunk  lock  business  in  this  country.  The  local  com- 
pany, which  has  grown  to  be  a  vast  concern,  owes  its  prosperity 
entirely  to  their  forethought,  perseverance  and  integrity. 

The  author,  knowing  of  how  much  importance  Plymouth 
has  been  to  the  country,  has  undertaken  to  preserve  so  much  of 
its  history  as  is  now  available,  trusting,  as  the  years  go  by  that 
it  will  be  appreciated  and  valued  for  its  intrinsic  worth. 


CHAPTER      I, 


THE    TOWN    OF    PI.VMOUTII. 


Act  of  Incorporation,  Describing  the  Boundary  Lines  and  the  Stipulations  to  be 
Abided  By— Disposition  of  the  Poor  of  the  Old  Town— List  of  Incorporators- 
Grand  List— First  Officers— Full  List  of  Representatives,  Judges  of  Probate 
and  Town  Clerks. 

THE  town  of  Plymouth  was  first  made  distinct  as  the  society 
of  Northbury  in  17S0,  when  it  was  incorporated  with  the 
society  of  Westbury  under  the  name  of  Watertown,  both  societies 
being  set  off  from  \Vaterbury.  In  179S  Northbury  was  set  off  as 
a  town  by  itself,  called  Plymouth,  under  the  following  act  of  the 
legislature  : 

At  a  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Coiniecticiit^  Iwlden  at 
Hartford^  in  said  State-,  on  the  second  Thursday  of  May, 
Anno  Dom.,  1795  ■' 

Upon  the  memorial  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  \\'ater- 
town,  showing  to  the  Assembly  that  the  said  town  and  the  same 
as  now  incorporated,  including  the  parishes  of  Westbury  and 
Northbury,  and  a  part  of  the  parish  of  Northfield,  extends  from 
east  to  west,  on  the  north  adjoining  on  Harwinton  and  Litchfield, 
about  ten  miles  and  a  half;  and  from  north  to  south,  adjoining 
west  on  Woodbury  and  Bethlehem,  about  eight  miles  ;  and  from 
west  to  east,  adjoining  on  the  south  on  Waterl)ury,  about  nine 
miles;  and  fiom  south  to  north,  adjoining  east  on  Bristol,  about 
five  miles  and  a  half;  and  that  the  same  is  so  situated  that  it  is 
very  inconvenient  to  do  this  town  business  owing  to  the  badness 
of  the  roads,  length  of  the  way,  and  other  inconveniences,  and 
also  showing  that  the  situation  of  said  town  and  their  amount  in 
the  list  are  sufficient  to  entitle  them  to  be  incorporated  into  two 
distinct  towns,  and  that  they  are  willing  to  be  restricted  to  one 
representative  from  each  town  at  the  General  Assembly,  praying 
for  relief  as  per  memorial  on  file. 

Resolved,  bv  this  Assembly,  that  all  the  land  lying  in  the 
limits   of  said   Watertown,    west  of   tlie    river   Naugatuck,    and 


iiisi'oi;^'   OF   pi.^MOUTir. 


South  Street, 
Plymouih. 


Main  Street, 
Plymouth. 


Winter  Scene. 

Soutli  Street, 

Pl\  mouth. 


THE     TOWN    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


southwest  of  the  west  brancli  of  said  river,  and  the  inhabitants 
within  tlie  said  limits,  shall  retain  the  said  name  of  Watertown, 
and  shall  have  and  retain  all  the  books  of  records  belonging  to 
said  towns,  antl  shall  have  and  retain  all  the  privileges  insislant 
to  any  other  town  in  this  State,  except  only  that  said  tcnvn  shall 
hereafter  send  but  one  Representative  to  the  General  Assembly 
of  this  State,  and  that  the  said  town  of  Watei  town  shall  hereafter 
support  all  the  poor  who  resided  within  its  limits  on  the  5th  day 
of  May,  A.  1).,  1795,  except  one  Mable  Ludington,  ol  said 
Watertown — and  that  all  the  lands  l\ing  within  limits  of  the 
original  town  of  Watertown,  east  of  the  river  Naugatuck  and 
northeast  of  the  west  branch  of  said  river,  and  the  inhabitants 
living  within  those  limits,  be  incorporated  into  a  distinct  town  ^ 
by  the  name  of  Plymouth,  with  all  the  privileges  and  under  the 
same  regulations  of  any  other  in  this  State,  except  only  that  said 
town  last  mentioned  shall  hereafter  send  but  one  Representative 
to  the  General  Assembly  of  this  State,  and  that  said  town  of 
Plvmouth  shall  hereafter  maintain  all  the  poor  who  resided 
within  its  limits  on  the  5th  of  instant  May  and  also  maintain  the 
said  Mable  Ludington,  and  the  now  town  of  Watertown  shall 
maintain  all  the  bridges  within  its  limits,  and  also  all  bridges 
across  the  west  branch  of  said  river  Naugatuck,  and  that  the  said 
town  of  Plymouth  shall  maintain  all  the  bridges  within  its  limits 
except  the  bridges  across  said  west  branch.  And  that  the  new 
town  of  Watenown  shall  pay  to  the  said  town  of  Plymouth, 
agreeable  to  stipulation  by  them  heretofore  made,  the  sum  of 
eighty-seven  pounds,  ten  shillings,  lawful  money,  to  be  made  in 
two  equal  payments,  the  one-half  to  be  paid  in  four  months  from 
the  rising  of  this  Assemblv,  and  the  remainder  to  be  paid  in  one 
vear  from  the  expiration  of  said  four  months,  and  the  whole 
which  remains  unpaid  at  the  end  of  said  four  months  to  be  on 
interest  from  that  time  until  paid,  and  that  the  said  town  of  Ply- 
mouth shall  have  a  town  meeting  on  or  before  the  loth  day  of 
July  next,  to  choose  town  ofBcers  for  the  said  town,  which  said 
town  meeting  shall  be  warned  by  a  warrant  signed  by  David 
Smith,  Esq.,  posted  on  the  public  sign-post  in  said  town,  at 
least  five  days  before  holding  said  meeting,  and  the  said  David 
Smith,  Esq.,  shall  be  moderator  of  said  meeting,  and  said  town 
shall  then  and  there  proceed  to  appoint  a  Town  Clerk  and  other 
town  officers  for  said  town,  who  shall  continue  in  office  until  the 
14th  dav  of  December,  or  until  others  are  chosen  in  their  room, 
and  that  all  the  debts  and  credits  of  said  original  town  of  Water- 
town  shall  be  equallv  divided  between  tlie  said  new  town  of 
Watertown  and  Plymouth,  according  to  their  respective  lists  in 
the  A.  D.,  1794;  and  whereas.  Samuel  Hickcox,  Ji'-i  and 
Boadice  Williams,  who  now  resides  within  the  limits  of  the 
present  town  of  Watertown.  were  not  taken  into  consideration  in 
the  division  of  the  poor  of  the  original  town  of  Watertown,  it  is 
to  be  understood  that  if  said  Samuel  Hickcox,  or  both  the  said 
Samuel  and  the  said  Boadice  Williams  shall  necessarilv  become 
chargeable  to  the  respective  towns  to  which  they  belong,  the 
expense  of  their  support,  while  so  chargeable,  is  to  be  paid  by  the 


lO  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


said  new  towns  in  proportion  to  the  respective  lists  of  their  polls 
and  rateable  estate,  but  if  the  said  Boadice  Williams  shall 
become  necessarily  chargeable  and  the  said  Samuel  shall  not  be 
so  chargeable,  then  the  new  town  ol'  VVatertown  shall  be  at  the 
whole  expense  of  the  support  of  the  said  Boadice  Williams, 
while  so  chargeable. 

A  true  copy  of  records  examined  by  George  Wyllys, 
Secretary. 

The  foregoing  is  entered  agreeable  to  an  attest  and  copy  of 
the  records  of  the  General  Assembly  by 

J.  A.  WRIGHT,    Toivn  Clerk. 


The  list  of  incorporators  were  as  follows,  including  a  few^ 
female  tax  payers: 

David  Adkins.  Eli  Barnes. 

Timothy  Atwater.  Ebenezer  Barnes. 

Ebenezer  Ailing  Joseph  Barnes. 

James  Ailing.  Eiiphalet  Barnes. 

John  Ailing.  Isaac  Barnes. 

John  Atwater.  Caleb  Barnes. 

Solomon  Ailing.  Dan  Barnes. 

Justice  Andrus.  Zopher  Barnes. 

Daniel  Adkins.  Ambrose  Barnes. 

Ambrose  Averit.  Daniel  and  Isaac  Bartholomew. 
(This  person  is  probable  the      Eliasaph  Barker, 
same  as   'Ambrose  Avery"      Silas  Booth, 

in  1795).  Abel  Baldwin. 

Samuel  Alcox.  Eli  Baldwin. 

Amos  Avery.  Thaddeus  Baldwin. 

Amos  Blakslee,  Gilbert  Beach. 

Moses  Blakslee.  Asahel  Bradley. 

Gad  Blakslee.  Ebenezer  Bradley,  Sr. 

Abner  Blakslee.  Zachariah  Beckwith. 

Abner  Blakslee,  Jr.  Noah  M.  Bronson. 

Micajah  Blakslee.  Amos  Bronson. 

Asher  Blakslee.  Amos  Bronson,  Sr. 

Asher  Blakslee,  Jr.  Ambrose  Bunnell. 

Samuel  Blakslee.  Hezekiah  Bunnell. 

Tared  Blakslee.  Titus  Bunnell. 

Adna  Blakslee.  John  Brown,  Sr. 

David  Blakslee.  Hezekiah  Brown. 

Eli  Blakslee.  Ebenezer  Bailey. 

Joel  Blakslee.  Stephen  Brainard. 

Salmon  Blakslee.  Levi  Bassett. 

Micah  Blakslee.  Miles  Curtis. 

Jude  Blakslee.  Zadoc  Curtis. 

Bela  Blakslee.  Isaac  Curtis. 

Nathaniel  Barnes.  Jesse  Curtis. 

Nathaniel  E.  Barnes.  Elihu  Curtis. 


INX'OKPOKA  TORS    OF     l'L\  M  OL'l  1 1 . 


1  I 


Oliver  Curtis. 
Samuel  Curtis. 
Benjauiin  Curtis. 
Arba  C(K)k. 
Lemuel  Cook. 
Justice  Cook. 
Samuel  Camp. 
Ephraim  Camp. 
Isaac  Camp. 
Benajah  Camp. 
Elam  Camp. 
Riverus  Carrington. 
Ebenezer  Cowles. 
Moses  Cowles. 
Reuben  Culver. 
Daniel  Culver. 
Amasa  Castle. 
Abel  Clark. 
Joseph  Clark. 
Jehiel  Clark. 
William  Crosby. 
Jere  Cooper. 
Dana  Dunbar. 
Aaron  Dunbar. 
IVIiles  Dunbar. 
David  Dunbar. 
Amos  Dunbar. 
Joel  Dunbar. 
Jonathan  Dunbar. 
Enos  Dutton. 
Eliasaph  Doolittle. 
Ebenezer  Darrovv,  Jr. 
Asa  Darrow. 
Titus  Darrow. 
Ezra  Dodge. 
Ira  Dodge. 
Thomas  Dutton,  Jr. 
John  Fancher. 
Ithiel  Fancher. 
Ebenezei'  Ford. 
Amos  Ford. 
Enos  Ford. 
Daniel  Ford. 
Samuel  Fenn. 
Samuel  Fenn,  Jr. 
Jesse  Fenn. 
Jason  Fenn. 
Jacob  Fenn. 
Aaron  Fenn. 
Eber  Fenn. 
Isaac  Fenn. 
Gershom  Fenn. 


Abijah  Fenn. 

Lyman  Fenn. 

Elisha  Frost. 

Elijah  Fenton. 

Ebenezer  Goss. 

Ira  Gaylord. 

Cyrus  Gaylord. 

Lemming  Gavlord. 

Samuel  Gilbert. 

Solomon  Griggs. 

Paul  Griggs. 

Hosea  Gridley 

Benoni  Hough. 

Zachariah  Hitchcock. 

Nathaniel  Hall. 

Benjamin  Hall. 

Jacob  Hall. 

Zacheus  How. 

Abraham  Heaton. 

Abraham  and  Jacob  Heming- 
way. 

Benjamin  Hickcox. 

Joel  Hickcox. 

Asahel  Hickcox. 

Seaman  Hickcox. 

James  Hill. 

David  Huiriiston. 

Jesse  Humiston. 

Ashbel  Humiston. 

vSeth  Himgerford. 

Benjamin  Hull. 

Ira  Hull. 

Eliphalet  Hartshorn. 

Gains  Hills. 

Elnathan  Ives. 

Robert  Jerom. 

Eldad  Jerom. 

Timothv  Jones. 

Esther  Johnson. 

Chandler  Johnson. 

Harvey  Judd. 

Elijah  Jordan. 

Biainard  Lindsley. 

Thomas  and  William  Lattin. 

Oliver  Loomis. 

Isaiah  Loomis. 

Samuel  Lewis. 

David  and  Jonathan  Luding- 
ton. 

Joel  Langdon. 

Benoni  Moss. 

William  Munson. 


HISTOi'V    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Old 

Gra\'eyard, 
PKmouth. 


Tliomaston 
Reservciir,  on 
Plvmoutli   Hill 


Falls  at 
Gre>sloiie, 
Plymouth. 


TIIF.    TOWN    OF     I'l.VMOUTII. 


'3 


Obadiah  Muiison. 
Isaac  Miller 
Tiiunias  jSlerchant. 
Thomas  Merchant,  Jr. 
Zebulon  Mosier. 
Daniel  Mead. 
Mead  Merrills. 
Daniel  Mills. 
Isaac  Monis. 
Lydia  Matthews. 
Caleb,  Jr.,    and    Simeon   Mat- 
thews. 
Gideon  Northrop. 
Joseph  Northrop. 
John  Osborn. 
Abner  Osborn. 
Samuel  Pardee. 
Stephen  Pardee. 
Samuel  Potter. 
Jacob  Potter. 
Zenas  Potter. 
Thomas  Potter. 
Lake  Potter. 
Ira  Potter. 
Eliakim  Potter. 
Daniel  Potter. 
John  Painter. 
Thomas  W.  Painter. 
Lent  Parker. 
Jonathan  Pond. 
Caleb  Preston. 
Noah  Preston. 
Jesse  Penfield. 
Samuel  Royce. 
David  Royce. 
Jacob  Rovce. 
Samuel  Reynolds. 
Daniel  Rowe. 
James  Smith. 
David  Smith. 
Aaron  Smith. 
Lemuel  Sperrv. 
Jesse  Scovil 
Sele  Scovil. 
Selden  Scovil. 
Eleazer  Scovil. 
Oliver  Stoughton. 
Thankful  Sanford. 
Anna  Sanford 
Eli  Sanford. 
Jesse  Sanford. 
Joel  and  Eri  Sanfoid. 


Samuel  Sanford. 

Samuel  Sanford,  Ji'. 

James  Shclton. 

David  Shclton. 

Ziba  Seymour. 

Abel  Seymour. 

Stephen  Se\  mour. 

Amos  Seymour. 

Gideon  Seymoiu^ 

Selah  Seymour. 

Titus  Scvmour. 

John  Sutlifi'. 

Abel  Sutliti". 

Lucas  Sutlifi". 

David  Sutlitf. 

Samuel  SutliH". 

Samuel  Thomas. 

James  Thomas. 

Edmund  Thompkins. 

Edmund  Todd. 

Samuel  and  Oliver  Todd. 

Samuel  Tuttle. 

Lemuel  Tuttle. 

Bostwick  Tuttle. 

William  Tuttle. 

Ozias  Tyler  and  OziasT\ler,  Jr. 

Victory  and  Beach  Tomlinson. 

Bethuel  Turner. 

Jesse  Turner. 

xAmzi  Ta Image. 

Eli  Terry. 

Noah  Upson. 

Reuel  Upson. 

Ashbel  Upson. 

Anna  Upson. 

Noah  \\"arner. 

Lyman  Warner. 

John  Warner. 

John  Warner,  Jr. 

James  Warner. 

Chauncev  Warner. 

Elijah  Warner. 

Joseph  Warner. 

Benjamin  Warner. 

Aaron  Warner. 

Ozias  Warner. 

Thomas  Way. 

Samuel  Way. 

EH  Welton." 

Anna  and  Asa  Welton. 

Aner  Woodin. 

Jesse  Woodin. 


14  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

Eli  Woodin.  Gideon  Woodruff. 

Joseph  A.  Wright.  John  Williams. 

Ambrose  Ward.  Obed  Williams. 

Antipas  Woodward.  Jesse  Weed. 

Samuel  Wheadon,  Allyn  Wells. 

The  following  persons  are  particularly  mentioned  as  tax 
payers  residing  outside  the  to\vn  limits: 

Jonathan  J.  Truesdell,    l?ristol. 
Abner  Wilson,  Harwinton.  Widow  Gaylord,  Bristol. 

\Vatertown,  August  20,  i794- 

A  true  Copy  of  the  List  of  Polls  and  Rateable  Estate, 
together  with  the  Assessments  of  the  Society  of  Northbury,  as 
made  out  bv  us,  the  subscribers. 


Samuel  Royce, 
Lake  Potter, 
Aaron  Smith, 
Chaun'cey  Warner,     J 


)■  Listers  under  oaih. 

I 


Sum  total  of  Northbury  List,  .  ,  £11,072-12-3 

Additions,       .  /  ■  .  •  273-1 2-1 

Fourfolds,       .....  294-   2-0 


£11,640-  6-4 
December  29,  1794. 
Sum  total  of  Watertown  List,  .  .  £24,743-11-3 

On   the    original    List    the    above    CcitiHcate    precedes    the 
names. 

FIRST     TOWN    OFFICERS. 

Wednesday,  June  24,  i795- 
At  a  town  meeting  held  agreeable  to  the  resolve  of  the 
General  Assembly  for  incorporating  the  town  of  Plymouth,  of 
which  David  Smith,  Esq.,  was  appointed  Moderator,  the  fol- 
lowing town  officers  were  appointed,  viz.  :  Joseph  Allyn 
W^-ight,  Town  Clerk  or  Register;  Aaron  Dunbar,  Joseph  A. 
Wright  and  Abram  Weston,  Selectmen;  Ozias  Tyler,  Elisha 
Frost  and  Eli  Barns,  Constables;  Jesse  Scovil,  Amos  Ford  and 
Amzi  Talmadge,  Grand  Jurors ;  Joseph  Allyn  Wright,  Town 
Treasurer;  Ashbel  Upson,  Miles  Dunbar,  Noah  Miles  Bronson, 
Robert  Jerome,  Tythingmen;  Elisha  Frost,  Lake  Potter  and 
Chaancey  Warner,  Listers;  Elisha  Frost,  Collector  of  State 
Taxes;  Antipas  Woodward,  Keeper  of  the  Pound  Key;  Jude 
Blakeslee,  Sealer  of  Leather ;  Antipas  Woodward,  Sealer  of 
Weights  and  Measures;  Ozias  Tyler  and  Levi  Bassett,  Com- 
mittee to  Remove  Encroachments  from  Plighway  ;  Aaron  Dun- 
bar, Town  Assent;  Timothy  Atwater,  Jason  Fenn,  Elias  Doo- 
little,   Elihu    Curtiss,    Amos    Ford,   Jesse  Turner,   Ozias  Tyler,. 


WEIGHTS    AND     MKASUKES    OF     PLYMOUTH 


15 


.0 


^^L. 


Gorge.  Devil's  Backbone, 
Plvmoutli. 


Articles  used  to  Seal  Weights  and  Measures. 
Supposed  to  be  100  Years  Old. 


l6  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

Ephraim  Camp,  Selah  Scovil,  Edmond  Todd,  John  Atwater, 
Noah  Warner,  James  Smith,  Eli  VVelton,  Samuel  Reynolds  and 
Benjamin  Hickcox,  Surveyois  of  Highways  ;  Timotln-  Atwater 
and  Aaron  Fenn,  Fence  Vievveis. 

Voted,  That  the  Selectmen  be  a  committee  to  settle  the 
account  of  debts  and  credit  of  the  old  town  of  \\^atertow'n 
between  the  present  town  of  W'atertcnvn  and  Plymouth. 

looted',  That  the  time  of  holding  the  aimual  town  meeting  in 
this  town  l)e  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  second  Mon- 
day ill  December. 

Votedi   That  this  meeting  be  dismissed. 

Test.,  J.  A.  WRIGHT,    Town  Clerk. 

REPRESENTATIVES    OK    IHE    TOWN. 

While  Northbury  (now  Plymouth)  was  a  part  of  Watertown, 
it  appears  that  one  of  the  two  representatives  was  from  North- 
burv.  The  legislature  held  two  sessions  each  \  ear,  one  in  May 
and  one  in  October,  and  there  were  two  elections  in  each  year. 
The  name  of  David  Smith  appears  frequently  in  the  list  of  rep- 
resentatives from  Watertown.  His  titles  on  the  record  are  Air., 
Major,  and  Colonel.  He  is  known  b^'  tradition  as  General. 
He  lived  in  the  house  Mrs.  Cuniss  now  occupies,  and  had  a 
store  near  by. 

David  Smith,  1796,  1797.  Elijah  Warner,  Jr.,  1831. 

Lake  Potter,  179S.  Silas  Hoadley,  1S33. 

Daniel  Potter,  1799,  iSoo.  Elijah  Warner,  Ji.,  1S33. 

David  Smith,  iSoi.  Eli  Potter,  1S34-5-6. 

Lake  Potter,  1S02.  Silas  Hoadley,  1S37. 

David  Smith,  1S03-4-5.  Tertius  D.  Potter,  1S3S,  1S39. 

Lake  Potter,  1S06-7-S.  Apollos  Warner,  1S40. 

Daniel  Potter,  1S09,  iSio.  John  S.  Warner,  1S42. 

David  Smith,  iSii.  Heman  Welton,  1843. 

Lake  Potter,  1S12,  sp'g  session.  Henry  Terry,  1844. 

David  Smith,  iSi3,fall  session.  I3arnabas  W.  Root,  1845. 

Lake  Potter,  1813.  Silas  B.  Terry,  1846. 

Calvin  Butler,  1S14.  Levi  B.  Heaton,  1S47,  1848- 

Jacob  Hemingway,  1S15.  Joli"  C.  Lewis,  speaker,  1849. 

Calvin  Butler,  1816,   1817.  Sereno  Gaylord,  1850. 

Roderick  Stanley,  Oct.,  181 7.  Ammi  Giddings,  185 1. 

Calvin  Butler,  May,  1S18.  Edward  Thomas,  1852. 

Jacob  Hemingwav.  Oct.,  181S.  Silas  Hoadley,  1853. 

Jacob  Hemingway,  1819.  Rollin  D.  H.' Allen,  1854. 

Jacob  Hemingway,  May,  1820.  Lewis  F.  Grant,  1855. 

Gideon   Woodruff,   Oct..  1820.  Ammi  Giddings,  1856. 

Calvin  Butler,  1S21,  1822.  Wm.  E.  McKee,  1857. 

Thomas  Mitchell,  1S23,   18:4.  Noah  A.  Norton.  1S58. 

Elijah  Warner,  Jr.,  1S25.  George  Langdon,  1859. 

Ransom  Blakeslee,  1826,  1827.  James  Terry,  i8bo. 

Calvin  Butler,  1S28.  Hiram  Pierce,  1861. 

Samuel  Guernsey,  rS29,  1830.  Samuel  T    Salisbury,  1862. 


roWX     OI-]-ICERS. 


17 


Gains  A.  Norton,  1S63. 
Seth  Thomas,  1S64. 
Henrv  Stnrgiss,  1S65. 
N.  Taylor  Baldwin,  1S66. 
Seth  Thomas,  1S67. 
Aaron  P.  Fenn,  1868. 
Edward  Dailey,  1869. 
Thomas  J.  l^radstreet,  1870. 
Lyman  D.  Baldwin,  1871. 
N.  Taylor  Baldwin,  1872. 
George  A.  Stonghton,  1873. 
Randall  T.  Andrews,  1S74. 
Abijah  W.  Welton.  1S75. 
Walter  H.  Scott,  1876. 
Lyman  D.  Baldwin,  1877. 


Rollin  D.  H.  Allen,  1878. 
Lyman  D.  Baldwin,  1879. 
Jason  C.  Fenn,  1880. 
X.  Taylor  Baldwin,   1881. 
Enos  Blakeslee,  1882. 
Timothy   B.  McNamara.   1883. 
Homer  E.  Cook,  1884. 
La  M.  Bevans.  1885. 
Edgar  L.  Pond,  1S86. 
Horace  Fenn,  1887. 
Willis  G.  Barton,  1889. 
Wilbert  N.  Austin,   1S91. 
Erastus  Fenn,  1S93. 
Henry  E.  Stonghton,  1895. 


JUDGES    OF    PROBAIK, 


Calvin  Butler,   1 833-1 841. 
Elisha  Johnson,  1842,  i<^43. 
C.  R.  Butler,  1844. 
Henry  B.  Graves,  1845. 
Elisha  Johnson,  1846, 
Henrv  B.  Graves,  1847- 
Barnabas  W.  Root,  184S. 
Elisha  Johnson,  1S49,  1S50. 
Ammi  Giddings,  185 1,  1S52 
Elisha  Johnson,  1853. 
Ammi  Giddings,  1854. 
Aaron  D.  Wells,  i8sv 


Ammi  Giddings,  1856- 1864. 
V.  R.  C.  Giddings,  ^ 865- 1868. 
Augustus  H.  Fenn,  1869,  1870. 
Geo.  Pierpont,  1871,  1872. 
Augustus  H.  Fenn,    1S73-1875. 
Geo.  Pierpont,  187^. 
Geo.  W.  Cole,  1876,  1877. 
Bvron  Tuttle,  1878-1881. 
Abijah  W.  Welton,  1882. 
Byron  Tuttle,  1884,  188S,  1891. 
Horace  Fenn.,  1891. 
Jason  C.  Fenn,  1893-1895. 


TOWN    cl?:rks. 


Joseph  A.   Wright,  1795- 181 5. 
Calvin  Butler,  1815-1S35. 
Edwin  Talmadge,  183^-1838. 
Calvin  Butler,  1838.  1839. 
Egbert  T.  Butler,'  1840! 
Calvin  Butler,  1841. 
Calvin  R.  Butler,  1842. 
Elisha  Johnson,  1S43. 
Abraham  B.  Doolittle,  1S44. 
Malcolm  N.  Butler,  1845. 
Elisha  Johnson,  1847. 
Ammi  Giddings,  1852. 


Elisha  Johnson,  1853. 
Barnabas  W.  Root,  1854. 
Ammi  Giddings,  18^6. 
V.  R.  C.  Giddings, '1865.* 
Augustus  H.  Fenn.f- 
Geo.  Pierpont,  1873. 
Augustus  H.  Fenn.  1874. 
Geo.  Pierpont,  1875. 
Edwin  AL  Talmadge,  1879. 
Frederick  E.  l?each,  1888. 
Oscar  D.  Beach,  1890. 
Jason  C.  Fenn,  1891-189^. 


*  Resigned  April  5.  1869. 

t  Appointed  to  fill  vacancy,  1869. 


iS 


mS'lORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Pastoral 
Scene  in 
Pl\  mouth. 


Circular 

Dam, 

Pequabuck 


<d^ 


VViuiden  Bridge 

at 

TliniiKiston, 

Recently 
Demolished. 


CHAPTER     II. 


EARLY     lUSTORV 


The  Wilderness  of  the  Naugatuck  Valley  First  Penetrated  by  a  Hunting  Party  in 
1657  -Tunxis  Tribe  of  Indians  Original  Proprietors- Part  of  Waterbury,  Later 
Parish  of  Northbury,  and  One  Hundred  Years  Ago  Incorporated  as  Town  of 
Plymouth. 

THE  Centennial  celebration  of  the  incorporation  of  the  town 
of  Phmouth,  Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  iSIay  14  and  15, 
1S95,  niav  lead  the  reader  tmfamiliar  with  its  history  to  believe 
that  no  settlement  of  its  territory  existed  prior  to  1795.  If 
such  an  impression  should  prevail  it  would  be  misleading. 
The  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  occurred  at  Plymouth,  Mass.,  in 
1620,  and  in  1634  the  first  settlement  was  made  in  Con- 
necticut. This  was  at  Wethersfield,  Windsor  and  Hartford. 
In  1640  some  of  the  inhabitants  removed  to  Farmington,  being 
the  first  in  the  state  to  go  away  from  navigable  waters.  As 
early  as  1657  a  party  on  a  hunting  excursion  had  penetrated  the 
wilderness  as  far  as  the  Naugatuck  valley,  making  the  first 
known  discovery  of  this  territory  348  years  ago.  The  party 
found  what  they  thought  to  be  a  mine  of  black  lead,  and  applied 
to  the  Tunxis  tribe  of  Indians,  who  were  the  original  proprietors 
of  the  town,  for  the  right  to  work  it.  which  right  \vas  conveyed 
to  them  in  a  deed,  now  recorded  in  Farmington. 

This  is  believed  to  be  the  earliest  title  of  the  white  men  to 
the  region.  It  embraces  the  entire  territory  of  the  town  of 
Plymouth,  the  traditional  site  of  the  lead  mine  being  a  little 
north  of  the  Harwinton  line,  on  the  east  side  half  a  mile  back  of 
the  highway  running  past  the  house  of  Alfred  Cleveland,  in  the 
woods.  The  marks  are  still  apparent  of  rock-blasting,  which 
could  only  have  been  for  mining  purposes.  There  is  a  spring 
which  from  time  immemorial  has  borne  the  name  of  the  Lead- 
Mine  Spring.  No  immediate  settlement  seems  to  have  re- 
sulted from  this  discovery.  The  anticipations  of  wealth  to  be 
derived  from  the  mine  were  not  realized  and  it  was  abandoned. 
The  original  settlement  of  the  valley  was  begun  down  the  river, 
at  what  was  first  known  as  Mattatuck,  and  afterwards  as 
Waterbur}'.     The  interval  on  which  that  city  stands  seems  not 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Main 

Street, 

Terrvville. 


Four 
Corners, 
Terr\ville. 


Terrvville 

Scliool 
Children, 


EARLY    SEITI.EKS    OF    I'l.VMC  )irTl  1 .  21 

to  have  been  discovered  by  white  men  till  some  sixteen  years 
after  the  lead-mine  deed  was  given,  the  first  recorded  report  of  it 
bearing  the  date  of  October  6,  1673. 

The  early  history  of  tiie  town  of  Waterbury,  in  which 
Plymouth  was  originally  included,  has  been  fully  written  and 
need  not  be  repeated  here.  SulKce  it  to  say  that  the  General 
Court,  upon  the  report  of  its  "  viewing"  committee,  granting  the 
petition  of  the  Faimington  people,  authorized  "the  settin  of  a 
plantation  at  Mattatuck,"  and  appointed  a  committee  "to  regu- 
late and  order  it."  This  the  committee  proceeded  to  do. 
Articles  of  association  and  agreement,  bearmg  the  date  of  June 
6,  1674,  were  drawn  up  and  signed  iiy  the  proposed  settlers. 
A  site  was  selected  for  the  village  ;  and  after  a  delav  of  three 
years,  caused  by  the  great  Indian  war  of  New  England,  known 
as  "  King  Philip's  war,"  in  1677  a  settlement  was  begun. 

At  the  outset,  the  committee  of  the  (Jeneral  Court  appointed 
to  superintend  the  settlement  ordered  that,  "for  benefit  of 
Christian  duties  and  defense  against  enemies,"  the  inhabitants  of 
the  new  plantation  "  should  settle  near  together."  Accordingly, 
prior  to  the  year  1700,  all  the  inhabitants  lived  in  the  town 
center  or  immediate  neighborhood.  But  as  the  lands  git  the 
center  were  taken  up  the  new  settlers  had  to  find  room  in  the 
remote  parts  of  the  town.  It  is  not  till  172^  or  1730  that  there  is 
any  trace  of  settlers  in  the  northern  part,  and  here  the  historv  of 
Plymouth  as  a  distinct  communitv  begins. 

The  first  settler  of  the  town,  so  far  as  known,  was  Henry 
Cook.  He  came  with  a  family  about  172S  and  had  a  farm  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  river  not  far  from  the  Litchfield  boundary. 
He  was  the  grandson  of  Henry  Cook  of  Salem,  Mass., 
before  1640.  He  had  a  grandson  Lemuel,  who  was  one  of  the 
last  pensioners  on  the  roll  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  who 
lived  to  be  over  i03  years  old.  John  Sutlifi"  appears  to  have 
been  the  next  settler.  He  came  with  a  famih'  from  Branford 
about  1730  and  built  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  on  what  is 
known  as  the  West  Branch.  These  two  men  are  mentioned  in 
a  vote  of  the  town  of  Canterbury,  December  14,  1730,  providing 
outside  schools,  as  living  at  "  Wooster  Swamp,"  a  term  by 
which  all  the  northern  and  northwestern  p:irt  of  the  town  was 
designated. 

Mr.  Sutlifi"  was  a  leading  man  in  all  the  early  history  of  the 
new  communitv.  After  him  came  Thomas  Blakeslee,  North- 
burv's  first  "captain,"  an  office  in  that  day  second  in  rank  and 
honor  onlv  to  that  of  minister;  Isaac  Castle  from  Westbury  ; 
Barnabas  Ford,  the  chief  land  owner,  from  Wallingford  ;  Gideon 
Allen  from  Guilford  ;  John  Humaston  from  North  Haven  ;  Eben- 
ezer  Richason  from  Canterbury;  Samuel  Towner,  Ebenezer 
Elwell,  Jonathan  Foot  and  others.  These  were  called  "up 
river"  or  "northern  people,"  bv  the  inhabitants  of  the  center  of 
the  town,  and  thev  soon  began  to  organize  as  a  distinct  com- 
munity. 

In  all  the  earlv  New  England  tDwns  the  first  movements 
toward   distinct    orsranization    were   in   the   direction   of  church 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


[•••^  ^  i-^^' 


Old   Carriage 

>hop,  PlyiTidUth 

Hill. 


Plymouth  Hill 
School  House. 


First  Iron 

Bridge  Over 

the   Naugatuck. 


EARLY    SETTLERS    OF    PLVMOUIM.  23 

privileges.  The  earliest  organization  was  ecclesiastical.  The 
first  public  body  organized  was  the  church.  The  lirst  public 
building  erected  was  the  meeting  house.  The  first  public  officer 
provided  for  was  the  minister.  As  an  old  writer  says:  •'  In  the 
first  settlement  of  New  England,  when  the  people  judged  their 
number  competent  to  obtain  a  minister,  they  then  severally  seated 
themselves,  but  not  befoie,  it  being  as  unnatural  lor  a  New 
England  man  to  live  w  itliuut  the  minister  as  for  a  smith  to  work 
his  forge  without  a  fire." 

The  earliest  history  of  Plymouth  therefore,  is  the  history 
of  the  church.  No  sooner  had  the  "northern"  inhabitants 
become  numerous  and  strong  enough  to  do  something  independ- 
entlv  for  themselves  than  they  began  to  move  lor  independent 
religious  provision,  to  which  by  law  they  were  requiretl  to  pay 
taxes  for  the  minister's  support.  At  first,  in  1732,  they  joined 
themselves  with  the  northwestern  inhabitants,  now  Watertown, 
in  the  endeavor  to  obtain  independent  "winter  privileges" — that 
is  the  privilege  of  hiring  a  minister  to  preach  among  them  durmg 
the  winter  months,  with  exemption  during  the  period  from 
parish  rates  at  the  center.  Soon  after  the  settlement  west  of  the 
river,  settlers  began  to  locate  on  the  hills  east,  and  before  long 
the  west  side  settlers  found  it  for  their  advantage  to  combine 
with  their  east  side  brethren  and  the  united  sections  began  to  act 
together  as  one  communltv. 

In  1737  they  opened  their  campaign  for  independence.  In 
October  of  that  year,  Henr)'  Cook,  Ebenezer  Elwell  and  Samuel 
Towner,  on  the  ground  of  their  living  so  far  from  the  meeting 
house,  requested  the  town  to  allow  them  and  others  to  hire 
preaching  the  ensuing  winter  and  to  abate  their  parish  rates 
while  they  should  thus  hire.  The  town  curtly  voted  "to  do 
nothing  in  the  case."  Two  years  later,  September  27,  i73^' 
Thomas  Blakeslee,  Henry  Cook,  Jonathan  Cook,  John  How, 
Jonathan  Foot,  John  vSutlift',  Jr.,  vSamuel  Towner,  Samuel 
Frost,  Barnabas  Ford,  Ebenezer  Elwell,  Gideon  Allen,  Isaac 
Castle,  Daniel  Curtis,  and  John  Flumaston,  fourteen  in  number, 
united  in  a  touching  appeal  to  the  town.  The  appeal  did  not 
prevail. 

The  petitioners  did  not  give  up.  Indeed  it  seems  from 
some  after  action  that  the  town  at  this  meeting  did  take  some 
action  in  their  favor.  But  whatever  it  was  the  town  either 
recalled  or  denied  it,  and  the  privileges  asked  for  were  refused. 
A  month  later,  October  26,  1736,  the  request  was  repeated  in 
writing  as  before,  signed  by  twelve  persons,  asking  that  all  living 
"  within  two  and  one-half  miles  of  Barnabas  Ford's  new  dwelling 
house"  be  allowed  the  privilege  of  hiring  for  three  years,  three 
months  in  a  year —  December,  Januarv  and  February — with 
exemption  from  ministerial  rates  from  the  center  for  the  time. 
The  town  voted  to  grant  the  request.  But  as  before,  either 
through  misunderstanding  or  change  of  view  on  the  part  of  the 
town,  the  proposed  exemption  was  denied  and  the  "up  river" 
people  were  back  where  they  were  before. 

At  a  town  meeting  the  next  s]iring,  April  iS,  17375  "  it  was 


IIISTOKY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Terryville 
Watering; 
Trough. 


Main 

Street, 

Terr\\ille. 


Street  in 
Terr\  ville. 


I••.AK^^•    SKTTLERS    OK    PI.V.MOUTH.  25 

asked  whether  the  said  northern  inhabitants  shall  be  exempt 
from  ministerial  charge  by  the  town  for  so  much  time  as  they 
shall  hire  a  gospel  minister  among  them,  in  addition  to  a  grant 
made  them  September  29,"  and  an  answer  was  given  by  a  vote 
in  the  negative.  Still  the  northern  people  did  not  give  it  up. 
Despairing  of  the  consent  of  the  town,  they  now,  at  the  May 
session,  1737?  applied  direct  to  the  General  Assembly,  which  in 
these  days  was  supreme  in  affairs  of  church  as  well  as  state. 
They  state  they  live  "  on  a  tract  of  land  about  five  miles  square, 
whereof  Barnabas  Ford's  dwelling  house  is  the  center;  that  the 
town  voted,  September  29,  1736,  that  they  might  have  a  ministei' 
for  three  months  for  three  years,  with  exemption  from  ministerial 
charges  the  said  term  ;  that  they  had  supplied  a  j:)reacher  and 
are  now  obliged  to  pay  rates."  They  asked  winter  privileges, 
and  the  usual  exemption  from  taxes.  The  petitioners  are 
sixteen  in  number,  the  same  as  those  who  signed  the  petition  to 
the  town  on  September  29,  except  that  three  new  names,  those 
of  Amos  Matthews,  Ebenezer  Richason  and  Phineas  Royce 
appear,  and  Jonathan  Cook's  does  not.  The  town  resisted  the 
application  and  it  was  denied. 

At  the  October  session  of  the  same  year,  however,  tlie  peti- 
tion was  renewed.  The  General  Assembly  granted  it  and  so 
the  new  communitv  scored  one  in  their  effort  at  independence. 
This  act  of  the  General  Assembly  was  the  first  charter  of  the 
town  of  Plymouth.  It  was  the  first  official  recognition  of  it  as  a 
distinct  community,  and  from  it  all  the  lest  of  its  full  investment 
as  a  town  naturally  follows. 

The  dwelling  house  of  Barnabas  Ford,  here  specified  as  the 
center  and  landmark  of  the  new  communitv,  stood  on  the  street 
leading  past  the  academv  in  what  is  now  Thomaston,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  road,  about  where  the  academy  stands.  There 
was  a  spring  of  water  near  it  by  the  roadside,  which  doubtless 
determined  the  site  of  the  house,  as  it  did  the  location  of  the 
dwellings  of  manv  of  the  earlv  settlers,  before  they  had  time  to 
dig  wells,  at  which  spring  the  bo^'S  who  went  to  church  in  later 
years  on  "The  Hill"  used  to  drink,  as  they  footed  it  l)ack  and 
forth  from  Thomaston  in  the  hot  summer  davs. 

Mr.  Ford  was  the  first  clerk  of  the  society  when  it  came  to 
be  organized,  and  appears  from  the  manv  deeds  bearing  his 
name,  to  have  been  an  extensive  owner  of  lands  in  the  vicinity. 
His  body  lies  in  the  old  burying  ground  (Thomaston).  His 
tombstone  bears  this  inscription :  "  Here  lyeth  ye  body  of 
Barnabas  Ford  ;  he  died  March  ve  10,  1746,  in  ye  53  year  of  his 
age." 

Encouraged  bv  this  initial  success,  the  northern  people 
petitioned  the  General  Assemblv  at  the  next  May  session  (173S) 
for  exemption  from  ministerial  charges  "  for  such  time  onlv  as 
they  had  the  word  dispensed."  The  petitioners  represent  that 
they  live,  the  nearest  seven  miles,  the  greater  part  eight,  and 
many  nine  or  ten  miles  from  the  meeting  house,  on  the  way  to 
which  they  were  obliged  to  cross  the  river,  often  deep  and 
dangerous,    nine   times.     The    signers    number    nineteen.     The 


26 


HISTORY    OP"    PLYMOUTH. 


Official  Sheep  Marks. 


Smith   Homestead,   PI\mouth  Center. 


KAKI,\-     SKiri.KKS    OF     I'LVMOUTII .  2'] 

names  of  Jeremiah  Peck,  afterwards  first  deacon  of  the  church, 
Caleb  Humaston,  afterwards  one  of  the  most  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  society,  and  wiio  <^ave  the  name  to  Humaston  Hill, 
and  others  appearinj^"  fur  the  iirst  time.  This  application  was 
denied,  but  at  the  October  session  following  it  was  renewed, 
twenty-three  signing.  They  say  that  the  three  years'  privilege 
which  had  been  granted  them  expires  the  February  ensuing,  and 
ask  that  it  may  be  extended  for  two  years.  They  allege  they 
have  a  population  of  139  ;  that  to  get  to  meeting  at  the  town 
center  they  have  to  remove  bars  and  open  gates  at  ten  diflercnt 
places. 

At  this  time  tiie  only  road  to  Waterbury  from  the  northern 
quarter  was  a  path  through  the  fields,  guarded  by  bars  and  gates 
between  the  difl'erent  inclosures.  The  present  river  road  was 
not  constructed  and  opened  as  a  highway  till  1S02,  and  was 
considered  a  great  undertaking  in  its  time.  A  cart  bridge — 
the  earlv  settlers  had  no  other  vehicles — was  built  across  the 
river  in  Xorthbury  in  1747-48,  the  town  voting  twenty-two 
pounds  in  money,  old  tender,  to  be  paid  when  the  bridge  should 
be  completed.     The  last  mentioned  petition  was  granted  in  173S. 

The  act  designated  the  memorialists  as  "  living  in  the  north 
ov  northeastern  part"  of  the  town.  Hitherto  it  has  been  north 
or  northwestern,  indicating  the  movement  of  the  settlement  to 
the  east  side  of  the  river. 

At  this  session  of  the  General  Assembly,  October,  1738,  the 
society  of  Westbury,  now  Watertown,  was  constituted.  Already, 
in  16S6,  at  the  May  session  of  the  General  Court,  Waterbury 
had  been  invested  with  town  privileges  and  given  its  present 
name. 

Encouraged  by  their  past  successes,  and  influenced  doubtless 
bv  the  example  of  Westbury  Society,  the  northern  people  the 
next  year  (1739)  again  moved  on  the  General  Assembly,  this 
time  to  be  constituted  an  independent  ecclesiastical  societ\-,  with 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  same.  The  town,  evidently  tired 
of  resisting  those  so  determined  to  be  an  independent  community, 
makes  no  opposition  to  the  application,  and  it  is  granted. 
A  committee  of  the  General  Assembly  was  appointed,  heard 
the  parties  and  decided  on  the  bounds,  and  on  their  report  to 
the  General  Assemblv  the  following  act  of  incorporation  was 
passed  : 

"Whereas,  upon  the  memorial  of  the  northern  inhabitants 
of  the  town  of  Waterbury,  in  New  Haven  County,  representing 
to  this  assembly  their  great  distance  from  the  publick  worship  in 
said  Waterbury,  and  praying  to  become  a  distinct  parish,  and  for 
a  committee  to  fix  their  parochial  '  ounds,  the  Assembly  did 
appoint  Messrs.  Thomas  jNfiles,  Stephen  Hotchkiss,  and  Joseph 
Thompson  to  be  a  committee  to  view  the  circumstances  of  said 
memorialists,  to  ascertain  their  parochial  bounds,  and  to  make 
their  report  in  the  premises  to  this  Assembly  ;  and  whereas  the 
said  committee  hath  now  reported  to  this  Assembly  that  they 
having  viewed  and  duly  inquired  into  the  circumstances  of  the 
said   inhabitants,  do  find  them   sufficient  to  bear   parish   charges 


28 


HISTORY    OF    PLVMOl'TII. 


Tiiwii   Building:, 
Plymoutli 
Center. 


Town    Hall, 
Terrvville 


Interior  of 
Town  Hall. 


EARLY     SK'ITLEKS    OK     PLYMOUTH.  29 

and  become  a  distinct  parish,  or  society,  with  the  following 
limits,  viz.  :  Beginning  at  the  northwest  of  the  First  Society  in 
said  Waterbury  and  the  northeasterly  corner  of  Westbury  Society 
at  two  white  oak  trees  known  by  the  name  of  Two  Brothers, 
then  running  southeasterly  by  the  West  Branch  until  it  comes 
into  the  river  ;  then  by  the  river  until  it  comes  where  Spruce 
Brook  emptyeth  itself  into  the  river  a  little  below  Upson's  Island. 
Then  from  the  mouth  of  said  brook  a  straight  line  to  the  ialls  of 
Hancock's  Brook,  and  from  thence  a  straight  line  to  the  south 
side  of  Mr.  Noyes'  farm,  lying  partly  on  a  hill  by  the  name  of 
Grassy  Hill  ;  and  from  thence  a  due  east  line  to  Farmington 
line  ;  then  north  by  said  Farmington  line  to  Harwinton  bounds  ; 
then  by  Harwinton  bounds  and  Litchfield  bounds  to  bounds  first 
mentioned  ;  bounding,  south  on  said  Waterlnuy  First  Society  ; 
east  on  Farmington  boiuuls  ;  north,  part  on  Harwinton  and  part 
on  Litchfield  bounds;  and  west  on  said  Westbury  vSociety  ;  as  by 
their  report  on  file  dated  October  25,  1739- 

"  Resolved  by  this  Assembly  that  the  said  memorialists 
within  the  limits  above  specified  and  described  be  and  become  a 
distinct  society,  or  parish,  and  that  they  shall  have  and  be 
invested  with  all  the  powers,  privileges  wherewith  other  parishes 
within  this  colony  are  endowed,  and  shall  be  known  and  called 
by  the  Parish  of  Northbury. 

"  October  session,  i739' 

Geo.  Wyllvs,  Sec." 

And  so,  after  four  applications  to  the  town,  and  five  to  the 
General  Assembly,  the  new  community  at  last  gained  its  end, 
and  Northbury  went  on  the  roll  of  the  ecclesiastical  societies  of 
Connecticut. 

The  society  was  thus  organized  but  it  did  not  exist  vet. 
The  General  Assembly  had  built  the  ship  but  left  it  on  the 
stocks.  Those  who  were  to  sail  in  it  alone  coidd  launch  it. 
This  they  proceeded  to  do.  Li  accordance  with  the  law  for 
parish  action,  three  of  the  inhabitants,  viz.,  John  Sutlifi',  Ebene- 
zer  Richason,  and  Barnabas  Ford,  made  application  to  Thomas 
Clark,  one  of  the  justices  of  Waterbury,  who  issued  his  warning 
to  those  who  lived  within  the  specified  bounds.  In  response  the 
inhabitants  met  on  the  day  designated  and  organized  the  society 
by  the  choice  of  John  Sutlifi",  moderator,  Barnabas  Ford,  clerk, 
and  Moses  Blakeslee,  John  Sutlifi',  and  Ebenezer  Richason, 
society  committee.  The  place  where  they  met,  designated  in 
tTie  warning  as  "  the  house  they  meet  in,"  was  a  building  which 
several  of  the  inhabitants  had  erected  the  year  before  by  subscrip- 
tion for  common  public  uses,  and  which  they  jointly  owned  as 
"proprietors."  It  stood  on  a  knoll,  since  leveled,  about  in  the 
center  of  the  park  in  Thomaston.  The  land  on  which  it  stood 
was  given  by  Rev.  Mr.  Southmayd  and  deeded  to  John  Sutlifi", 
Ebenezer  Richason,  John  How,  Thomas  Blakeslee,  Barnabas 
Ford,  and  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  living  within  two  and  one- 
half  miles  of  Barnabas  Ford's  new  dwelling  house.  It  is  de- 
scribed i.:  the  deed  as  "  one  acre  near  said  Ford's  dwellingf  house 


30 


HISTORY    OF    PLVMOUIH. 


Re\'.   Luther  Hart 


Mrs.  LutluM-  Hart 


EARLY    SF.TTI.ERS    OF    PLYMOUTH.  3 1 

in  Waterhury,  on  which  inhabitants  have  ah-eady  set  up  a  lioiise 
for  the  said  inhabitants  lo  meet  in  to  cany  on  the  pubhc  worship 
of  God  on  the  Sabbath."  The  building-  was  a  very  plain  one 
and  was  known  in  later  years  as  the  "'church  house." 

The  original  record  of  the  first  meeting  of  the  society  is  in 
existence,  with  the  other  early  records  of  the  society.  It  is  in 
the  handwriting  of  Barnabas  Ford. 

The  society  thus  organized,  the  next  thing  was  to  choose  a 
minister,  and  Rev.  Samuel  Todd  was  selected.  Accordingly  on 
the  7th  of  May  Mr.  Todd  was  ordained  first  minister  ol"  the 
northerly  society.  He  was  born  in  North  Haven,  March  6, 
1716-17,  the  seyenth  child  and  fifth  son  of  Samuel  and  Mary 
(Tole)  Todd,  and  grandson  of  Christopher  and  Grace  Todd", 
early  immigrants  to  the  New  Haven  colony.  The  early  recortls 
of  the  North  Haven  Church  are  imperfect,  but  Mr.  Todd  doubt- 
less  united   with    it    during    the  pastorate  of  Rev.   Isaac    vStiles, 


First  Congregational  Church. 


father  of  President  Stiles,  of  Yale.  His  family  were  of  a  relig- 
ious character,  as  is  proved  by  preserved  relations  or  memorials 
of  its  members,  in  the  days  when  each  church  member  wrote  out 
his  or  her  confession  of  faith;  that  of  his  sister  Susannah,  after- 
wards wife  of  Caleb  Humaston,  recounts  the  wickedness  of  her 
rebellion  against  God,  and  how,  when  awakened  to  the  sense  of 
her  sin,  the  counsels  of  Rev.  Mr.  Stiles  and  the  death  of  an 
aunt  were  blessed  to  her  conversion. 

]Mr.  Todd  graduated  at  Yale,  under  President  Williams,  in 
1734,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  six  of  the  fourteen  in  his  class 
becoming  ministers.  A  lately  discovered  document  shows  that 
he  received  and  rejected  a  call  to  another  church  before  he  was 
ordained  at  Northbury,  May  7,  1740.  Eight  months  before  he 
had  married  Mercy,  daughter  of  Peter  Evans,  of  Northfield,  near 
New  Haven,  and  he  brought  her  on  a  pillion  behind  him,  or  on 
another   horse,   into   this   wilderness,   where  there  was  a  small. 


32 


HISrORV    OF    PI.-iMOUTII. 


Re\.   I.   P.   Warren. 


Re\'.   ETphraim   1  \  man. 


EARLY    SKTTI.EHS    OK    PLYMOUTH.  33 

feeble,  scattered,  but  devoted  flock,  situated  somewhat  similar  to 
the  tirst  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth,  jSIass.  There  were  only  bridle- 
paths through  the  woods  then,  and  the  streams  had  to  be  forded, 
the  rirst  cart  bridge  across  the  Naugatuck,  at  Thomaston,  not 
being  built  till  after   1747- 

Mr.  Todd's  promised  home  was  not  begun  on  his  arrival, 
and  he  set  up  his  house  on  Town  Hill,  where  the  cellar  hole  is 
now  seen  in  the  lot  near  Jason  Fenn's,  and  where  three  old  apple 
trees  lately  stood  of  an  orchard  set  out  by  him  ;  this  was  near  his 
good  deacon's,  Moses  Blakeslee,  who  had  lately  arrived  from 
New  Haven  with  his  fourteen  children.  A  spring  flows  near 
the  old  cellar  hole,  where  tradition  says  Mr.  Todd's  first  child, 
little  Alathea,  was  drowned  ;  near  the  tombstone  of  her  sister 
Lucy,  who  died  June  9,  1752,  is  an  unmarked  grave  which  is 
doubtless  that  of  little  Alathea,  said  to  be  the  flrst  person  buried 
there.  After  two  or  three  years'  delay,  the  society  built  Mr. 
Todd  a  house  in  Thomaston,  which  stood  on  the  top  of  the  hill 
where  Mrs.  Williams  built  later,  on  the  old  road  running  north, 
which  turned  ofl  from  the  river  road  at  Mr.  Grilley's  corner. 
It  is  not  known  how  long  he  lived  there,  but  he  moved  over  to 
Plymouth  Hill  when  the  church  was  there  and  the  people  lived 
here;  he  had  moved  before  1746-47,  for  Barnabas  Ford's  will, 
dated  January  37,  1746,  disposes  of  twenty-three  acres  of  Bear 
Hill  which  he  had  of  Mr.  Todd,  and  in  tne  deed  of  this  green, 
December  3,  1747,  it  was  described  as  butting  east  on  Mr.  Todd's 
land.  His  house  was  in  the  garden  this  side  of  Riley  Ives' 
house,  and  is  remembered  by  the  old  people  as  the  Evans  House, 
where  Eli  Terry,  the  father  of  clock-making,  began  housekeep- 
ing with  one  chair  apiece  for  himself  and  wife,  and  one  cup  and 
saucer.  Mr.  Todd's  second  daughter  was  Mary,  who  married 
Obed  Foot  of  this  parish,  and,  on  his  death,  Rev.  Jonathan 
Leavitt,  of  Heath,  Mass.  Mr.  Todd  had  eleven  children,  there 
being  two  Alatheas  and  two  Lucys. 

The  great  revival  under  President  Edwards  roused  the  New 
England  churches  from  the  cold  formalism  that  grew  out  of  the 
union  of  the  church  and  state  and  other  causes,  and  Mr.  Todd 
went  to  studv  it  at  Stockbridge,  probably  by  the  advice  of  Joseph 
Bellamv,  settled  two  years  before  at  Bethlehem,  a  great  friend  of 
Edwards,  and  then  in  the  midst  of  a  religious  revival,  in  which 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  parish  was  under  more  or 
less  religious  concern.  When  Mr.  Todd  returned,  established 
prayer  meetings,  and  laliored  with  souls,  many  of  his  congrega- 
tion rebelled  against  him,  and  abandoned  his  preaching.  There 
was  almost  temporal  trouble.  Two  years  before  the  society  was 
organized  a  building  had  been  erected  for  public  purposes,  by  sub- 
scription, west  of  the  river,  and  owned  bv  subscribers,  in  which 
the  society  was  allowed  to  meet  for  public  worship.  That  was 
never  the  society's  meeting  house,  for  they  never  owned  it;  it 
was  built  and  owned  by  proprietors,  and  occupied  by  the  society 
for  a  time  by  their  consent.  The  society's  movement  to  build  a 
meetintr  house  was  not  caused  bv  their  being  voted  out  of  this 


34 


IllSrOKV    OF    PI.YMOUTH. 


Rev.   E.  J.  Ha' 


Rfx  .   R.   C.   LiMiiiea. 


EAIU.V    SKiri.IiKS    OF     l'I,YM(  )UTII .  35 

building;  the  society,  instead,  being  voted  out  of  it  because  it 
had  resolved  to  build  a  meeting  house. 

The  society  had  been  organized  November  20,  1739,  and  u 
minister  installed  May  7,  1740;  not  satisfied  with  the  west  side 
house,  the  society  voted,  October  6,  1740,  to  get  the  legislature 
to  set  a  stake  for  a  meeting  house,  as  it  had  none  of  its  own. 
This  was  not  because,  as  Bronson  says,  the  churchmen  had 
obtained  a  majority  of  the  votes  and  took  exclusive  possession  of 
the  house  of  worship.  A  protest  of  the  proprietors  of  that 
building  to  the  legislature  has  been  found  in  Mr.  Satterlee's 
possession,  in  which  the}^  say  that  their  obligations  to  Mr.  Todd 
are  as  much  as  they  can  meet ;  therefore  they  ask  that  the  meet- 
ing house  be  not  built  for  the  present,  but  that  their  house  be 
established  as  the  place  for  public  worship,  which  is  sufhcient 
for  the  present  wants  of  the  society,  and  is  freely  offered  for  its 
use.  The  protest  is  dated  October  S,  1740,  two  days  after  the 
vote  of  the  society  to  build,  and  is  signed  by  William  Ludding- 
ton,  Jonathan  Foot,  John  Sutliti',  Sr.  and  Jr.,  Barnabas  Ford, 
Jolin  How,  Isaac  Castle,  Thomas  and  Jacob  Blakeslee,  Ebenezer 
Richason,  vSamuel  Jacobs,  Caleb  Humaston,  Phineas  Royce, 
Daniel  Curtis,  Gideon  Allen,  Jeremiah  Feck,  Sr.  and  Jr.,  Eben- 
ezer Elwell,  and  Samuel  Fiost.  The  protest  was  never  sent  to 
the  legislature,  but  the  next  May,  John  Sutliff,  Barnabas  Ford, 
and  John  How,  on  authority  of  the  proprietors,  sent  one,  saying 
that  they  were  behind  with  Mr.  Todd's  settlement  and  salary, 
and  praying  that  further  charges  respecting  a  meeting  house  be 
prevented  at  present.  It  is  evident  that  the  occupation  of  the 
west  side  house  was  merely  temporary  and  provisional,  the 
society  chancing  to  be  organized  there,  as  there  was  no  other 
public  building  in  the  parish  limits;  it  was  not  regarded  as  the 
meeting  house,  nor  did  they  intend  to  remain  in  it  permanently. 
It  was  not  the  society  of  Wooster  Swamp,  but  of  Northbury, 
which  mainly  lay  east  of  the  river,  where  it  proceeded  to  build 
as  soon  as  it  was  in  fair  working  order. 

The  west  side  settlers  naturally  objected  to  the  building, 
because  they  saw  it  would  be  done  east  of  the  river,  and  they 
tried  to  persuade  the  society  to  remain  in  their  school  house. 
But  when  they  saw  that  the  society  was  determined  to  build  on 
the  east  side,  a  majority  (not  of  the  society,  for  that  would  have 
controlled  it  and  defeated  the  project  of  building  on  the  east  side) 
of  the  pioprietors  of  the  west  side  house  (eleven  of  the  nineteen) 
voted  tlie  society  out  of  doors  till  it  should  have  completed  its 
own  house  ;  then  this  majoritv  of  the  proprietors,  knowing  that 
the  legislature  would  not  organize  an  opposition  Congregational 
church    west  of  the  river,  formed  an  Episcopal  society. 

The  minoritv  of  the  proprietors  of  the  west  building,  though 
opposed  to  building  a  meeting  house  east  of  the  river,  yet 
remained  loyal  to  the  societv,  and  were  its  pillars — Jeremiah 
Peck,  first  deacon.  John  Sutlifi',  Sr.  and  Jr.  (the  junior  being 
sixth  deacon),  Caleb  Humaston,  and  Phineas  Royce.  The  Con- 
gregational societv  had  its  first  home  on  the  hill,  and  there  it  has 
always  been,  nor  would  an   Episcopal   societv  have  been  formed 


36 


mSIORV     Op-     I'LV.VKKI'IH. 


Rev    H.  E.  C. 


Rev.  E.  B    Hillard, 


KAIU.\-    .SKril.KKS    OK    I'l.VMOUIII.  37 

in  Thomaston  then  if  tliu  church  liad  been  built  here.  The  con- 
flict was  primarily  of  locality  and  only  secondarily  of  ecclesi- 
astical order.  The  secession  weakened  the  society,  leaving  half 
the  number  to  do  the  work,  to  build  Mr.  Todd's  house  and  a 
meeting  house;  tiiere  were  only  a  handful  of  members  left,  and 
they  were  poor,  just  building  their  own  houses  and  clearing 
their  farms.  But  they  ditl  not  bieak  down  under  their  heavy 
burden,  and  established  the  society  on  firm  foundations. 

Rev.  Mr.  Todd's  house  was  built  slowly,  and  his  first  year 
he  gave  in  twenty  pounds  of  his  salary  towards  it;  but  it  was 
finished  by  December,  1742,  for  then  the  society,  turned  out  of 
the  school  house  iu  the  Hollow,  voted  to  meet  there  part  of  the 
year,  he  having,  meanwhile,  been  living  on  Town  Hill.  The 
disruption  of  the  society  hindered  it  in  building  a  meeting  house, 
and  put  an  end  to  society  meetings  and  to  its  organization.  But 
in  May,  1741,  in  response  to  an  appeal  of  John  Bronson,  Moses 
and  Thomas  Blakeslee,  the  legislature  directed  Benjamin  Hall 
and  Captain  John  Riggs,  of  Derby,  to  go  to  Northbury,  warn  a 
society  meetmg,  and  see  that  it  chose  proper  ofiicers.  1  hey 
were  also  to  direct  them  wheie  and  how  long  to  meet  for  Sabbath 
worship,  and  to  see  where  atul  when  it  was  best  to  build  a  meet- 
ing house. 

At  the  meeting  they  warned  for  June  10,  1741,  Joseph 
Clark  was  chosen  clerk,  Daniel  Curtiss  collector  of  the  minister's 
rate,  and  Deacon  Moses  Blakeslee,  Lieutenant  John  Bronson, 
and  Sergeant  John  Warner  prudential  committee  to  fix  a  place 
to  build  a  meeting  house,  and,  meanwhile,  they  were  directed  to 
meet  in  the  west  school  house  ten  months,  and  in  Jo^eph  Clark's 
house  in  January  and  Februarv,  when  it  was  difficult  for  those 
this  side  to  cross  the  river.  The  societv  applied  to  the  legisla- 
ture for  a  committee  as  directed,  and  notwithstanding  the  protest 
of  those  on  the  west  side.  Captain  John  Rogers  and  John  Fowler 
were  sent  to  select  the  meeting  house  site  at  the  society's  expense, 
and  set  a  stake  twenty  rods  west  of  One  Pine  Swamp,  and  thirtv 
rods  south  of  the  road  running  east  from  the  river. 

The  societv  voted  to  build  there  December  3,  1744,  having 
before  this  been  turned  out  of  the  west  side  school  house,  and 
meeting  in  the  houses  of  Joseph  Clark,  Sr.  and  Jr.,  and  at 
Mr.  Todd's  seven  months,  including  winter,  on  the  east  side,  and 
five  months  on  the  west.  January  9,  174^,  it  was  voted  to  ask 
the  legislature  for  a  tax  on  the  land  to  help  build  a  meeting 
house,  and  at  a  meeting  held  the  next  September,  it  was  asked 
to  conform  the  middle  stake  which  the  court's  committee  had  set 
as  its  site  ;  it  was  then  requested  that  the  land  tax  be  not  imposed 
on  members  of  the  Church  of  England;  Barnabas  Ford,  Thomas 
and  David  Blakeslee  having  protested  against  the  taxation  of 
their  land. 

John  Warner,  the  societv's  agent  in  this  matter,  represents 
in  his  memorial  that  about  one-third  of  the  society  have  l^ecome 
Episcopalians,  and  at  his  request  the  middle  stake  was  made  the 
site  for  the  church.  The  next  December,  Deacon  Moses 
Blakeslee  was  appointed  to  fix  the  site  of  the  troublesome    build- 


38 


iriST01?Y    OF    PI.VMOUril. 


Rev.  J.  S.  Zelie. 


Rev.  C.  H.  Smith. 


KAKLV     SKiri.HKS    OF     PLYMOUTH.  39 

iiig;  at  this  time  tliey  met  this  side  oi  llie  river  the  wliole  year, 
at  Caleb  Weed's  in  Alaich  and  April,  and  at  Joseph  Clark's  the 
rest  ut"  the  time,  the  latter  being  voted  twelve  shillings  in  winter 
aiul  ten  shillings  in  warmer  weather. 

The  church  was  not  begun  in  October,  1746,  tor  then  it  was 
vt)ted  to  get  and  draw  timbers  for  it.  December  of  that  year  it 
was  voted  to  meet  each  side  of  the  liver  half  the  time,  in  the 
houses  oi'Phineas  Royce  antl  Caleb  Weed.  September  22,  I747' 
it  was  voted  to  allow  the  people  to  budd  Sabbath  day  houses  on 
the  green,  outside  a  line  drawn  by  the  society's  committee;  it 
was  also  voted  to  cut  and  clear  the  brush  from  the  green.  This 
green  was  given  the  society  for  a  place  of  parade,  a  burying 
ground,  and  a  place  to  build  a  church  on  by  the  town  of  Water- 
bury,  which  bought  eight  rods  south  of  the  meeting  house  stake, 
eighteen  rods  north,  and  sixteen  rods  west  of  it,  of  John  Brins- 
made,  of  Milfortl  ;  he  presented  an  acre  besides,  and  others  gave 
four-tenths  of  an  acre,  making  in  all  four  acres,  which  was 
deeded  to  the  society,  through  Caleb  Humaston,  December  3, 
1747,  and  was  described  as  butting  west  on  Brinsmade's  land, 
north  on  Humaston's,  east  on  Mr.  Todd's  and  south  on  the  high- 
way, showing  that  the  road  ran  then  where  it  does  at  the  present 
time. 

In  1825  arbitrators  decided  that  the  green  belonged  to  the 
society,  and  the  town's  only  right,  acquired  by  usage,  was  to 
bury  in  the  burying  ground.  The  green  was  then  an  alder 
swamp,  and  when  the  second  church  was  built,  it  was  so  w-et 
that  some  wanted  the  church  at  the  head  of  the  street,  that  proud 
Madam  Ballany  and  Mrs.  Wright  might  occasionally  wet  their 
feet  going  to  meeting,  as  more  common  people  had  been  com- 
pelled to  do. 

The  Northbury  societv  grew  through  much  tribulation. 
First,  it  petitioned  the  town  seven  times — in  October,  i734i  Sep- 
tember 29,  and  October  26,  1736,  antl  April  18,  1737^  May  and 
October,  1738,  and  October,  1739.  Then  it  was  seven  years 
after  the  society  was  organized  before  the  society  began  to  build, 
and  twentv-two  years  after  that  before  its  meeting  house  was 
done.  Research  has  brought  to  light  in  B.  B.  Satterlee's  posses- 
sion the  original  constitution  in  Mr.  Todd's  handwriting.  After 
a  pastorate  of  twelve  vears  in  Adams,  Mass.,  and  serving  as 
chaplain  in  the  revolution,  Mr.  Todd  died  in  Oxford.  N.  H., 
June  10,  1789,  aged  seventy  years. 

Rev.  Andrew  Storrs  was  ordained  and  installed  November 
27,  1765,  and  died  in  office  March  2,  1785,  after  a  pastorate  of 
nearly  twenty  years.  He  built  the  house  where  Mr.  Kelsey  has 
lately  lived,  putting  it  up  in  1766.  He  set  out  the  button-balls 
and  elms  that  were  so  noticeable  there.  Mr.  Storrs  died  (and 
now  lies  in  the  center  vard)  two  years  after  peace  had  been 
declared  with  Great  Britain. 

Five  vears  before,  17S0,  Westburv  and  Northbury  had  been 
incorporated  as  a  new  town,  named  Watertown,  and  transferred 
to  Litchfield  countv.  These  parishes  were  then  the  richest  part 
of  Waterbury,  the  grand  lists  of  the  several  societies  standing  in 


40  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

1749,  VVaterbury  first,  £12,181,  Westbury,  £11,257,  Northbury, 
JL' 10,070.  One  of  the  richest  men  in  this  society  In  the  early 
times  was  Jeremiah  Peck,  first  deacon,  wiiose  property  inven- 
toried at  £"3,702  when  he  died  in  1752.  Earlier  than  that  Barna- 
bas Ford,  the  great  land  holder,  was  one  of  the  wealthy  men. 
He  owned  all  Thomaston  when  it  was  Fordton,  his  rule  seeming 
to  have  been  to  buy  all  land  joining  his;  he  bought  all  of 
Mr.  Todd's  land  in  the  Hollow  before  1746,  as  appears  by  his 
will. 

Simon  Waterman,  the  third  Congregational  pastor,  was 
born  in  Norwich,  January  17,  1737,  to  a  family  that  originally 
came  from  Norwich  in  England.  He  was  settled  here  August 
29,  1787,  the  year  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution  opened 
a  new  era  of  consolidated  national  life.  He  brought  Eunice,  his 
wife,  to  whom  her  father,  Benjamin  Hall,  a  magistrate,  had 
married  him  July  26,  1764,  and  six  children,  two  having  died  in 
Wallingford.  Mr.  Waterman  lived  in  the  Warner  house  on 
South  street,  next  to  Mrs.  vSmith's,  and  set  out  the  great  elms 
now  towering  before  it.  His  home  life  was  pleasant,  with  happy 
gatherings  of  young  folks,  with  courting  in  the  parlor  as  the 
years  went  on.  Not  one  of  that  family  is  now  alive.  He  was 
dismissed  in  1809,  and  resided  here  till  his  death  in  1S13,  three 
•years  after  Mr.  Hart  came  here. 

The  second  meeting  house  was  built  during  Mr.  Waterman's 
ministry,  and  was  a  source  of  trouble.  The  vote  for  a  survey  to 
find  the  middle  of  the  town  passed  March  3,  1783,  during  the 
last  of  Mr.  Storrs'  ministry,  and  it  was  found  to  be  on  Town 
Hill,  wheie  the  stake  for  the  meeting  house  was  stuck  in  front  of 
Nathan  Beach's  house.  Mr.  vStorrs'  sickness  and  death  inter- 
fered with  building  then,  but  when  Mr.  Waterman  was  settled, 
the  enterprise  was  renewed,  though  there  was  trouble  about  the 
site  at  first.  January  11,  1790,  it  was  finally  voted  to  build  the 
meeting  house  on  a  rock  a  little  southeast  from  the  house  where 
Samuel  Lewis  then  lived,  at  the  head  of  the  old  road  leading 
from  the  old  meeting  house  eastward.  The  23d  of  the  next 
December  it  was  voted  to  build  a  steeple,  and  the  2 2d  of  October, 
1792.  it  yvas  voted  to  dispose  of  the  old  house;  on  the  2d  of  the 
following  December  lilDerty  was  granted  to  erect  horse  sheds. 
December  7,  1S06,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  confer  with 
Mr.  Waterman  regarding  his  uneasiness,  with  satisfactory  results, 
for  no  further  trouble  was  had  until  March  16,.  1S07,  when 
another  committee  saw  him  in  reference  to  a  communication  of 
his  to  the  society.  September  25,  1809,  it  was  finally  voted  to 
dismiss  Mr.  Waterman,  and  he  was  dismissed  by  a  council  on 
the  14th  of  November,  he  to  retain  the  whole  salary  for  that  year, 
and  the  society  to  pay  him  $750  in  three  annual  installments. 

Mr.  Waterman  died  afrer  a  short  illness,  while  on  a  visit  to 
a  bachelor  son  in  New  York.  His  remains  were  brought  to 
Plymouth,  where  his  wife  had  died  on  the  previous  March,  a 
son,  Simon,  having  also  died  on  the  7^'^  ^^  the  previous 
September. 

Rev.   Lutlier  Hart  was  called   next.      He   was   a   native    of 


EAKKV    SETTLKUS    Ol-      I'l.VMOl'TH.  4I 

Goslien,  born  July  27,  17S3.  He  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1S07, 
of  wliich  institution  lie  was  afterwards  a  Fellow.  Was  ordained 
pastor  of  this  church  September  5,  iSio,  and  died  in  the  midst 
of  the  labors  of  a  revival  April  35,  1S34,  in  the  fifty-first  year  of 
his  age  and  twenty-fourth  of  his  ministry. 

Rev.  Ephraim  Lyman  was  ordainetl  October  28,  1S35.  He 
was  born  in  (joshen,  June  3,  iSio,  and  graduated  from  Vale  in 
1S32,  and  at  Vale  Theological  Seminary  in  1S3V  He  was  dis- 
missed June  8,  18^1,  having  nearly  completed  the  sixteenth  year 
of  his  ministry.      vSubsequentlv  he  located  in  Washington,  Conn. 

Rev.  Israel  Perkins  Wairen,  tlie  next  pastor,  was  born  in 
Bethanv,  April  8,  1814;  graduated  iVom  Vale  Theological  Sem- 
inary in  1S41,  and  settled  in  Plymouth  October,  1851.  He  was 
followed  bv  Rev.  Erskine  J  Hawes,  of  Hartford,  who  became 
pastor  January  19,  iS^8,  and  died  July  8,  i860,  being  killed  by 
his  horse. 

Rev.  Robert  C.  Learned,  of  New  London,  came  next,  being 
installed  .September  11,  1S61,  and  dismissed  July  15,  1865. 
Rev.  Henry  E.  Cooley  was  settled  August  7,  1866,  and  dismissed 
April  I,  1869. 

Rev.  Elias  Brewster  Hillard  became  the  next  pastor.  He 
was  settled  November  30,  1869,  and  dismissed  Julv  18,  1889. 
Mr.  Hillard  died  March  i,  189^,  at  Farmington,  and  was  biuied 
in  Plvmouth.  The  following  sketch  was  written  by  Rev.  J.  H. 
Tvvichell  of  Ilartfoid  : 

''Mr.  Hillard  was  a  native  of  this  State,  having  been  born 
in  Pre-ton  September  6,  182^.  He  was  of  the  old  New  England 
stock,  a  lineal  descendant  in  the  eighth  generation  of  Elder 
Brewster  of  Plymouth  Colony.  His  father,  Moses  Hillard,  was 
a  sea  captain,  an  adventurous,  energetic  man  of  no  small  fame  in 
his  dav.  He  was  master  of  the  ship  that  brought  to  America 
the  first  news  of  the  burning  of  Moscow. 

"It  is  an  interesting  fact,  though  it  has  never  l:)een  made 
public,  that  when  Napoleon,  after  his  overthrow  at  Waterloo, 
thought  of  flving  to  this  country,  friends  of  his  sought  and  were 
pledged  the  aid  of  Captain  Hillard,  then  in  France,  in  carrying 
out  the  design.  It  was  fully  arranged  between  him  and  them 
that  the  emperor  should  be  concealed  in  a  water  cask  on  his 
vessel's  deck  and  so  escape  through  the  English  fleet.  But  for 
some  reason  he  was  not  conveyed  on  board  as  had  been  agreed 
and  the  plan  failed. 

"The  bold  self-reliant  temper  of  the  father  reappeared  in 
marked  degree  in  the  son  and  contributed  much  to  his  efficiency 
in  life. 

'•  Mr.  Hillard  was  prepared  lor  college  at  the  old  Bacon 
Academy  in  Colchester.  Pie  graduated  at  Yale  in  the  class  of 
184S.  Among  his  classmates  were  Judge  Nathaniel  Shipman 
and  the  Hon.  David  vS.  Calhoun,  of  Hartford,  the  late  Dvvight 
Foster,  of  the  supreme  bench  of  IMassachusetts.  Dr.  Henry  Blod- 
get,  the  eminent  missionar^'  to  China,  Professor  Wilcox  of  the 
Chicago  Theological  .Seminary  and  the  lamented  Theodore 
Winthrop,  who  fell  at  Big  Bethel.     After  his  graduation  he  was 


4^  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOLUH. 

for  two  years  principal  of  Lewis  Academy  in  Soutliington, 
where  the  writer  of  this  notice  was  his  pupil  and  experienced,  as 
did  all  the  pupils  (one  of  whom  afterward  became  his  wife),  the 
charm  and  encouragement  of  his  genial,  generous  and  friendly 
spirit. 

'•  Completing  his  theological  studies  at  the  Yale  and  Andover 
Seminaries,  Mr.  Hillard  ottered  himself  for  the  home  missionary 
service  and  from  the  Home  Missionary  Society  received  appoint- 
ment to  California,  at  that  time  a  new  and  distant  field.  But  the 
society,  falling  just  then  into  straitened  financial  circumstances, 
was  unable  to  send  him,  and  he  became  pastor  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church  in  Hadlyme,  where  he  labored  from  1855  to  1S60. 
His  other  pastorates  were  successively  at  Kensington  from  i860 
to  1867,  at  South  Glastonbury  from  1867  to  1S69,  at  Plymouth 
from  1S69  to  1889,  and  at  Conway,  Mass.,  from  18S9  to  1893. 
Thirty-eight  years  in  all  he  exercised  the  ministry  of  the  gospel, 
and  continually  with  his  whole  heart,  with  burning  zeal  and  the 
enlistment  of  every  faculty  of  his  being.  When  at  last  he  laid 
down  his  work,  he  was  worn  out. 

"His  wife,  who  was  Miss  Julia  Whittlese}',  of  Cleveland, 
O.,  survives  him,  with  seven  of  their  nine  children,  as  follows: 
INIrs.  Andrew  McLeish,  of  Chicago,  Frederick  W.,  of  Staten 
Island,  Mrs.  J.  L.  Fenn,  of  Hartford,  Mary  R.,  of  St.  Margaret's 
School,  Waterbury,  Helen,  Fanny  and  John. 

"Mr.  Hillard  was  a  man  of  a  high  order  of  ability,  intel- 
lectually alive  and  alert,  and  in  his  views  of  the  liberal  progres- 
sive school.  Grounded  and  settled  in  the  essentials  of  Christian 
faith,  he  was  never  in  the  least  afraid  of  new  ways  of  thinking 
on  the  old  truths.  He  was  characteristically  fervid  in  tempera- 
ment, and  was  wont  to  champion  with  boundless  enthusiasm 
whatever  cause  he  felt  to  be  for  the  public  welfare  and  the 
advance  of  Christ's  kingdom.  From  the  beginning  of  his  minis- 
try, but  notably  in  the  twenty  years  of  his  Plymouth  pastorate, 
he  was  a  recognized  foremost  leader  in  the  enterprise  of  temper- 
ance reform.  'With  charity  for  all,  with  malice  toward  none,' 
he  fought  a  good  soldier's  fight  against  all  forms  of  evil  that  he 
saw  working  ill  to  his  neighbor.  He  loved  righteousness  and 
he  hated  iniquitv.  He  was  the  soul  of  Christian  courage  ;  the 
soul,  also,  of  Christian  kindness  and  good  will.  Few  ministers 
and  few  citizens  of  his  generation  are  more  worthv  of  honor, 
gratitude  and  remembrance  than  Elias  Brewster  Hillard.  May 
his  rest  be  sweet." 

Mr.  Hillard  had  promised  in  the  early  winter,  if  his  health 
permitted,  to  prepare  additional  hiscory  of  Plvmouth  for  these 
pages,  but  he  was  unable  to  do  so,  much  to  the  author's  regret. 

John  Sheriden  Zelie  followed  Mr.  Hillard.  He  became 
pastor  Julv  23,  1S90,  and  was  dismissed  July.  1S94. 

The  present  pastor  is  Rev.  Charles  H.  Smith,  of  Pomfret. 
He  was  born  in  Abington,  Conn  ,  April  11,  1861.  His  parents 
were  the  Rev.  Henrv  Bagg  Smith  and  Sarah  Hazen,  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  Reuben  Hazen.  Mr.  Smith  was  fitted  for  college  in 
the  Amherst  Hisfh   School  and  studied  theology  in  the  Hartford 


EAKI.V     SEITLHHS    OK     I'l.Y.MOUTH. 


43 


Theoloi^ical  Seniiiiaiy,  and  clurin<i:  tlie  last  two  \eais  of  his  sem- 
inary studies  he  was  located  at  Burlington,  Conn.  Ilis  father 
died  in  1SS3  and  he  then  supplied  the  pidpit  \acated  bv  him  at 
Siuitesbury,  Mass.  He  was  called  to  lielchertown,  Alass.,  in 
1887,  where  he  remained  until  he  received  a  call  from  Hartford 
in  1891.  He  was  called  to  Plymouth  December  28,  189^.  and 
installed  the  30th  of  the  following  month.  He  is  married  and 
has  two  children. 


44 


HiSTORV  OF   l*^^■^I()^.n■^. 


Rev.   Dr.  Burhaiis. 


Re\'     Will.   Watson. 


C  H  A  P  T  E  11      III 


CHURCH    HISTOKV 


St.  Peter's  Episcopal  Parish  Established  in  1740— Its  Ministers  and  Other  Inter- 
esting Facts— St.  Matthew's  Church.  Now  Closed- Terry ville  Congregational 
Society,  with  Sketches  of  Pastors— Roman  Catholic  Mission  -The  Defunct 
Second  Advent  Chapel. 

ST.  PETER'S  Episcopal  parish  was  Hist  organized  bv  eleven 
families  branching  ottfrom  Rev.  Mr.  Todd's  congregation  of 
eighteen  families  in  the  yea'-  1740.  Their  first  minister,  Rev. 
Theophilus  Morris,  was  sent  here  by  the  English  Church  for 
propagating  the  gospel  in  foreign  pa'ts.  He  officiated  in  the 
parishes  of  VVaterburv.  West    Haven    and    Derby   in    1742,   hut 


St.   Peter's  Episcopal  Church. 

returned  to  England  in  1743.  The  next  nlini^ter  sent  was  Rev. 
James  Lvon.  who  made  l3erby  his  home  but  preached  in  these 
parishes  until  1S46,  when  he  went  to  Long  Lsland.  The 
parishes  in  America  then  were  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
bishop  of  London  and  depended  greatly  upon  the  aid  of  the 
English.  It  was  three  vears  after  the  departure  of  Mr.  L}  on 
belbre  Rev.  Richard  Mansfield  returned  from  England,  where  he 


46 


iiisroRV  OK  PLVMorrii. 


Rev.   DaviJ   Lunsdeii. 


Rev.   B.   EastwauJ. 


CHURCH     HISTORY.  47 

had  gone  for  orders,  he  being  tlie  tirsl  nali\e  of  this  country  who 
had  supplied  tlie  pulpits  here.  Mi.  MansHekl  remained  from 
1749  until  17^9,  when  his  successor  was  Rev.  James  Scovill, 
who  resided  in  Waterbury  and  was  a  nati\c  of  that  town. 
Mr.  Scovill  was  also  a  missionaiy  and  laljored  here  faithfully 
from  1759  until  1771,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  James 
Nichols.  Mr.  Scovill  continued  to  preach  in  the  parishes  of 
Waterbury  and  VVestburv  (now  VVatertown).  ^Ir.  Nichols 
remained  until  the  Revolutionary  trembles  began  in  1775,  when 
he  went  to  Litchfield  to  reside. 

From  177s  until  the  autumn  of  17S4  the  parish  was  without 
a  minister,  owing  to  the  war  between  this  country  and  England. 
In  October,  1784,  the  Rev.  Chauncey  Prindle  was  called  and  it 
was  voted  and  agreed  that  he  should  receive  as  salary  for  preach- 
ing half  of  the  time,  the  sum  of  thirty-seven  pounds  and  ten 
shillings,  and  it  was  further  agreed  that  he  should  receive  half  of 
the  above  amount  in  beef,  pork,  butter,  tallow,  sheep's  wool, 
flax,  or  any  sort  of  grain  at  the  market  price  at  W'atertown. 
During  the  first  four  years  of  his  stay  the  church  was  weakened 
by  the  withdrawal  from  the  parish  of  two  considerable  detach- 
ments, one  of  which  was  designed  to  form  Northfield  parish  on 
the  west,  and  the  other  St.  Matthew's  on  the  east.  This  separa- 
tion was  not  caused  by  any  dislike  to  eirher  Mr.  Prindle  or  the 
members  of  the  society,  but  a  desire  to  erect  parishes  nearer 
their  own  homes.  The  next  difficulty  which  Mr.  Prindle  had  to 
pass  through  was  the  erection  of  the  edifice  which  now  stands 
on  Plymouth  Hill  Green,  and  which  was  ready  for  use  in  the 
autumn  of  1796,  in  which  the  rector  preached  the  first  sermon 
November  24,  1796.  Mr,  Prindle  resigned  in  1S06  to  give 
opportunitv  for  its  becoming  united  in  a  ciu'e  with  St.  ]Matthew's. 

Rev.  Nathan  Burgess  officiated  the  greater  part  of  1S07. 
In  iSoS,  the  onlv  service  which  was  held  was  conducted  bv  a 
candidate  for  orders,  afterwards  Rev.  Joseph  Davis  W'elton,  who 
was  engaged  as  a  lay-leader.  In  1809  the  services  of  a  settled 
minister  were  secured  again,  at  which  time  Rev.  Roger  Seai  le 
took  charge.  According  to  agreement,  Mr.  Searle  was  to 
preach  here  two-thirds  of  the  time  and  at  St.  Matthew's  one- 
third,  which  continued  luitil  1S13  Aiiout  this  time  removals 
began  to  take  place  from  this  parish  to  Ohio,  the  mania  becom- 
ing so  great  for  emigration  as  to  threaten  the  church  with  serious 
injury.  In  the  vear  1817,  Mr.  Searle,  thinking  that  he  might 
find  a  wider  field  in  Ohio,  resigned  and  took  up  his  duties  in  the 
west.  In  181S  Rev.  Rodnev  Rosslter  became  rector.  It 
was  (luring  bis  stav  that  a  bell  was  procured  for  the  church  in 
1823.  and  a  Simdav-school  encouraged  in  182S.  ]Mr.  Rossiter 
resigned  at  Easter,  1S29. 

For  two  and  a  half  vears  after  this  the  parish  was  without 
a  rector,  but  during  this  period  Rev.  R.  W.  Harris,  Rev.  Joseph 
T.  Clark,  Rev.  Gurdon  S.  Cf)it,  Rev.  Norman  Pinnev  and  Rev. 
Allan  C.  Morgan,  officiated  here  about  six  months  each.  Either 
one  the  parish  woidd  have  retained.  l)ut  circumstances  did  not 
permit  it.      In  the  summer  of  1S31    the  basement  of  the  church 


48 


HISrOH^-    OK    PLVMOUIir. 


Rev.  Lmerson  Jessup 


Rfv.  J.   M.  Balfs. 


CHURCH     IIISTOKY 


49 


was  built,  which  greatly  added  to  its  convenience.  On  the  7th 
of  the  following  Noveniber  Rev.  Dr.  Burhans  took  charge, 
though  it  was  not  till  the  succeeding  Easter  that  he  became  the 
rector  Now  for  the  first  time  the  parish  enjoyed  the  services  of 
a  settled  minister  for  the  whole  of  the  time,  and  during  his 
ministry  it  was  deemed  best  to  enlarge  the  church,  which  was 
done  bv  l:)ringing  the  body  of  the  building  out  flush  with  the 
front  of  the  steeple.  Dr.  Burhans'  resignation  is  dated  April 
4,  1836.  _ 

During  the  winter  of  1S37  Rev.  Geo.  Waters  su]:)plied  the 
desk  and  pulpit.  Rev.  VVm.  Watson  of  Bethlehem  and  Northfield 
was  called  in  May,  1S37.  An  organ  costing  $700  was  added  to 
the  improvement  of  the  interior  of  the  church  in  March,  1S41. 
After  thirteen  years'  service  Mr.  Watson  resigned  on  August  24, 
iS^o.      In    1S52   Rev.   S.  D.  Denison  was  called  and  continued 


Interior  View,  St.   Peter's  Episcopal  Church. 


until  1S54,  when  Rev.  A.  B.  Goodrich  became  rector,  followed 
in  March,  1S56,  by  Rev.  S.  H.  Miller,  who  served  until  the  fall 
of  1857,  when  for  a  short  time  Rev.  Wm.  Bates  was  engaged. 
From  1850  until  i860  the  parish  was  without  a  minister  the 
greater  part  of  the  time.  Then  Dr.  Berry  was  called  and 
remained  until  May  4,  1861.  Rev.  David  F.  Lunsden  followed 
from  April,  1862,  until  April,  1863.  Rev.  B.  Eastwood  was 
rector  one  year.  Rev.  Porter  Thomas  served  from  August, 
1869,  until  October  17,  1872,  followed  by  Rev.  Emerson  Jessup, 
and  Rev.  L.  M.  Darman,  until  June  i,  1874;  bv  Rev.  S.  B. 
Duff^eld  until  1876;  Rev.  J.  M.  Bates  until  1S77  f  Rev.  N.  T. 
Scudder  until  Easter,  1879,  when  the  Rev.  John  D.  Gilliland 
was  called  and  served  until  18SS.  Rev.  W.  E.  Hooker  became 
the  rector  of  the  church  in  18SS.  During  Mr.  Hooker's  stav  the 
church  was  completelv  remodeled  inside,  the  organ  moved  and 
new  furnaces  put  in,  all  through  the  kindness  of  Mrs.  J.  M.  Tou- 


50 


Hisioi!^'    (>i<    iM  ,^•Mr)r  III 


Rev.  N.  T.  ScudJer. 


Rev    W.  E.  Hooker. 


CHL'RCii   iiisroKV.  51 

cey,  aiul  tlie  help  of  Mrs.  Prosper  Warner.  Tlieir  present  pas- 
tor, Dr.  James  Gam  mack,  was  called  in  1892.  He  was  born  in 
Turrirt",  Aberdeenshire,  Scotland,  April  23,  1S37,  '^^^^  educated 
at  Turrirt"  Parish  School,  Marischal  College  and  University, 
Aberdeen,  from  which  University  he  received  M.  A.,  m  1S57, 
and  LL.  D.,  in  1SS7.  Pie  also  attended  the  Theological  College, 
Glenalmond,  Perthshire,  in  1857-59,  tiicn  under  Arciuleacon 
Hannah,  of  Brighton,  and  Canon  liriglit,  of  Oxford.  He  was 
ordained  deacon  in  1859,  and  priest  in  1861. 

ST.  Matthew's   episcopat  parish. 

In  1790,  wlien  tlie  new  meetinghouse  was  built  at  Plymouth 
Hollow,  some  of  the  members  of  the  parish,  displeased  because 
it  was  not  built  on  Town  Hill,  seceded  and  helped  to  build 
St.  Matthew's  Church,  in  East  Plymouth.  Being  situated  in 
that  part  of  Plymouth  contiguous  to  the  towns  of  Bristol,  Har- 
winton,  and  Burlington,  each  of  those  places  contributed  to  the 
birth  and  maintenance  of  St.  Matthew's  parish  and  church. 
The  first  record  of  the  parish  found,  is  of  a  society's  meeting  of 
the  Second  Fpiscopal  Church  in  Northbury,  holden  at  the  house 
of  Ensign  Ozias  Tyler  in  said  Northbury,  the  4th  day  of  April, 
1 79 1,  at  which  Capt.  Nathaniel  Jones  was  chosen  moderator, 
and  Ensign  Ozias  Tyler  clerk  ;  and  it  was  voted  that  the 
society's  committee  be  desired  to  provide  a  place  for  public 
worship  for  the  present  year.  A  meeting  was  also  held  on  the 
first  day  of  December  of  the  same  year  (1791)  at  the  same  place, 
at  which  Captain  Thomas  Hungerford  was  chosen  moderator. 
It  was  voted  "to  build  a  church,  forty-two  feet  in  length  and 
thirty-two  feet  in  width,"  and  a  committee  was  chosen,  consist- 
ing of  Isaac  W.  Shelton,  Samuel  Hawley,  Ozias  Tyler  and 
Stephen  Graves,  "to  build  the  church,  and  set  the  stake  where 
the  church  shall  stand,"  also  voted  to  "arch  the  lower  tier  of 
windows  and  the  upper  tier  stiuare." 

When  first  erected  the  building  stood  in  front  of  its  present 
location  with  its  entrance  at  the  south  end,  but  in  1842,  or  soon 
after,  was  turned  around  and  placed  where  it  now  is.  The  old 
square  pews  were  removed  about  1830.  At  a  meeting  held 
June  2,  1792,  at  the  dwelling  house  of  Ensign  Robert  Jearom, 
Captain  Thomas  Jearom,  moderator,  it  was  voted  "to  give 
David  Butler  a  call  for  three-quarters  of  the  time,  to  be  our  min- 
ister; also  to  give  him  £55,  and  his  firewood  yearly,  three- 
quarters  of  the  time  ;  to  be  paid,  two-thirds  in  farmer's  produce 
and  one-third  in  cash." 

The  church  was  built  in  1792,  but  was  unfinished  inside, 
for  at  a  meeting  held  March  5,  1793,  Isaac  W.  Shelton  and 
Stephen  Graves  were  appointed  a  conmiittee  to  "  lay  out  the 
monev,  and  procure  somebodv  to  do  ofi"  the  inside  of  the  church." 
And  again,  at  a  meeting  held  at  the  church  December  31,  1793, 
the  following  committee  was  appointed  to  "  examine  and  find  the 
most  convenient  wav  of  doing  oft' the  church  and  make  report  at 
the  next  meeting:"  Noah  Andrews,  Ira  Dodge,  Isaac  \V.  vShelton, 


52 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Rev    James  Gammack 


/       


'i.''''''"'*\;i/!':!niii;:iri,;''^ 


II!" 


St    Peter's  Episcopal  Church  Parsonage. 


cnrRCii    insroin' 


53 


Calvin  Woodin,  and  Tiniotliy  Speriy ;  at  whicli  meeting  held 
January  13,  1794,  it  was  voted  to  "finish  the  church  in  the 
following  manner:  to  make  a  broad  alley  through  the  center  of 
the  lower  floor,  and  flnisli  the  sides  with  pews  in  the  most  con- 
venient manner,  also  to  finish  the  gallery  by  making  two  rows 
of  seats  round  the  whole  square,  and  a  row  of  pews  across  the 
south  end."  It  was  voted  that  the  church  be  called  St. 
Matthew's  at  a  meeting  held  October  19,  179V  On  November 
10,  1794,  it  was  voted  to  adopt  the  constitution  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  of  Connecticut,  and  Caleb  Matthews,  the 
parish  clerk,  was  instructed  to  attend  the  convention  at  Ciieshire 
and  request  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Seaburv  to  consecrate  the  new 
church. 

Among  the  early  moderators  of  the  parish  meetings  we  find 
the  names  of  Noah  Welton,  occurring  twenty-three  times; 
Stephen    Graves,    twelve  ;      Captain     Thomas    Huiigerford    and 


.pal   Cliui^h,   La>t   Pl\  mouth 


Ambrose  Ward,  nine  each  ;  and  later,  Lyman  Preston,  twelve 
times;  also  frequently,  C;iptain  Nathaniel  Jones,  Captain 
Thomas  Jearom,  Ensign  Ozias  Tyler,  Lieutenant  David  Marks, 
and  Isaac  Atwater. 

One  of  the  clergymen  who  preached  at  St.  Matthew's  was 
Rev.  Alexander  V.  Griswold,  who  was  afterwards  Bishop  of 
New  England  except  Connecticut.  He  was  here  when  the 
church  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Samuel  Jarvis,  second  Bishop 
of  Connecticut,  in  1795.  He  lived  in  the  house  belonging  to 
Cyrus  Gaylord,  grandfather  of  the  present  Cyrus  Gaylord,  who 
now  owns  the  place.  Isaac  Atwater  came  from  Wallingford  that 
same  year,  and  lived  in  the  old  Joseph  Gaylord  place,  now  occu- 
pied by  Henrv  Loom  is.  The  house  was  then  a  tavern  and 
Mr.  Atwater  kept  it  for  several  years;  it  was  the  only  stopping 
place  between  Bristol  and  Harwinton,  and  letters  and  news- 
papers were  brought  by  the  horseback  travelers  passing  by,  also 
left    in    the    bar    room    for    others    to    take   who    w^ere    passing. 


54 


HISTORY    OF    PI-VMOUril. 


Confrregational  Clnircli,  Terrxville- 


Interior,  Terryville  Congregational  Church. 


CIUIU  II     IIISIOKV.  55 

Mr.  Atvvater  removed  from  Walliiigford  lu^m  ;i  wish  to  change  llie 
scene,  after  losing  four  children.  Two  wcie  then  living;  one  a 
boy  often,  James  Dana,  who  afterwards  married  Betsy  Benhani, 
and  died  joon  afterwards,  was  buried  with  Alasonic  honors,  and 
a  gravestone,  with  Masonic  emblems  engraved  on  it,  was  put  up 
and  is  still  standing.  The  other  child,  a  small  girl,  Lucy,  always 
lived  in  this  vicinity  until  she  was  ninety-eight,  dying  in  1S92,  one 
hundred  and  one  \  ears  old,  after  her  oldest  sister  was  buried  in 
W'allingford  in  1791.  Mr.  Atwater  moved  from  East  Church  to 
Chippen's  Hill,  in  1S14  or  so,  where  he  lived  until  almost  1S25, 
when  he  moved  to  a  house  just  east  of  the  town  line  by  the  old 
marsh  pond,  where  his  descendants  now  live.  Mr.  Atwater  was 
a  Revolutionary  soldier  for  a  time  and  also  had  a  brother  who 
died  in  that  war.  He  was  a  man  of  much  genius,  was  fond  of 
writing,  sermons  and  poetry  of  his  being  now  in  the  possession 
of  his  grandchildren.  His  youngest  daughter  married  Enos 
Rice  or  Royce,  of  Hartford  at  that  time,  but  afterwards  living  on 
the  old  Atwater  place. 

The  Rice  family  were  very  prominent  in  .St.  Matthew's 
parish ;  Jeremiah  Rice  often  read  the  service.  He  married  an 
aunt  of  Mrs.  Cyrus  VV.  Field,  of  New  York,  who  was  his  own 
cousin.      She  lived  in  Bristol. 

The  parish  of  St.  Matthew's  furnished  three  clergymen. 
The  first  is  the  Rev.  Collis  J.  Potter,  of  Stratford  ;  second,  Rev. 
X.  A.  Welton,  of  Pequotonnock,  Conn.,  and  the  Rev.  Alfred 
L.  Royce,  U.  S.  N.,  now  chaplain  of  the  Naval  Academy  at 
Annapolis,  Md.  He  is  the  son  of  Enos  Royce  and  the  grandson 
of  Isaac  Atwater. 

In  1S71  or  '72,  the  church  was  remodeled,  a  chancel 
arranged,  the  old  towering  pulpit  taken  down,  and  doors  taken 
off  the  small  pews,  also  a  ceiling  made  to  reach  across  from  one 
gallerv  to  another.  There  is  no  chimney,  and  when  a  stove  was 
put  in  the  people  thought  that  no  one  could  speak  in  such  close 
atmosphere.  It  used  to  be  a  large  and  full  congregation,  but  has 
dwindled  down  to  half  a  dozen  old  decrepit  ladies,  and  service 
is  seldom  performed  there. 

The  first  use  of  the  cemetery  at  East  Plymouth  for  buiial 
purposes  seems  to  have  been  coeval  with  the  formation  of  the 
parish  and  the  building  of  the  church,  for  we  find  a  grave  digger 
appointed  in  1793  and  the  oldest  tombstone  bears  date  i795-  At 
the  present  time  it  is  impossible  to  give  a  list  of  the  interments, 
as  of  the  large  number  of  early  unmarked  graves  scarcely  a 
trace  remains.  However,  the  number  cannot  be  less  than  500? 
as  about  300  monumental  stones  have  been  erected.  No  record 
remains  of  interments  for  the  fir^^t  half  century,  excepting  those 
shown  upon  the  tombstones,  until  Junius  Preston  was  appointed 
sexton  in  1S46,  which  office  he  continued  to  fill  ibr  forty-one  years. 

TERRYVILLE  COXGREGATIONAI,  CHURCH. 

Nearl}^  a  century  after  the  organization  of  the  first  parish  in 
Plymouth,   forty-nine  persons   came  off  by  letters  of  dismissal, 


56 


HisroKv   ov   I'l.ysioi'iii. 


Rev.  Nathaniel  Richardson. 


Re\'.  Merrill  Richardson 


c  lU'Kc  II    msroHV. 


57 


tlated  Nu\cn:l)ci"  20  and  December  31,  1S37  ;  '^^^^^1  \vitli  the 
exception  of  tour  of  them,  who  were  absent  on  tlie  occasion, 
were  organized  as  the  Congregational  Church  of  Terryville, 
January  2,  183S.  The  articles  of  faith  and  covenant  adopted 
were  those  of  the  consociated  churches  of  the  southern  district  of 
Litclitield  count}'.  The  four  persons  absent  at  the  organization 
were  soon  received ;  antl  on  March  2,  eighteen  others  joined 
from  the  chinch  at  Plymouth.  Charles  H.  Porter,  then  a 
junior  in  Yale  College,  spent  the  month  of  January  in  the  place, 
and  many  persons  were  hopefully  converted.  Two  young  ministers, 
\iz.,  C.  vS.  Sherman  and  David  Dobie,  followed  up  the  labors  of 
Mr.  Porter,  and  in  the  six  months  between  the  organization  of 
the  church  and  the  settlement  of  the  first  pastor,  thiitv-nine  per- 
sons were  added  to  the  membership. 

August  8,  1838,  was  a  great  day  with  this  people.  In  the 
forenoon  the  completed  house  of  worship  was  dedicated,  and  in 
the    afternoon    three    young   men    ^vere    ordained    to   the    gospel 


Teir\'\ille  Coni/reyatioiuil   Cbuicli 


ministry,  one  of  whom,  Natlianiel  Richardson,  was  installed 
(first)  pastor  of  this  church.  The  preacher  upon  this  occasion 
was  Rev.  Dr.  Noah  Porter  of  Farmington.  The  ministry  of 
Mr.  Richardson  extended  to  July  2,  1S40. 

Rev.  Merrill  Richardson  was  the  second  pastor.  He  was 
installed  October  27,  1841.  He  was  born  in  Holden,  Mass.,  in 
181 1 — brought  up  on  a  farm  a  healthy,  sturdy  boy,  until  he  wan 
sixteen.  His  father  then  gave  him  his  time  and  two  hundred 
dollars  (which  was  all  the  help  he  received  for  his  education), 
and  he  went  to  Leicester  Academy,  Worcester  county,  Mass.,  to 
fit  for  college.  He  always  spoke  of  his  mother  with  the  greatest 
love  and  reverence,  and  said  it  was  owing  to  her  influence  that 
he  decided  to  become  a  minister  of  the  gospel.  He  graduated  at 
Middlebury  College,  Vt.,  taught  the  academy  there  two  years, 
and  then  went  to  New  Haven  to  study  theology  under  Dr.  Taylor, 
whose  instructions  he  gratefully  prized.      He  was  deeply  inter- 


^8 


mSTOHV    OF    IT.S  .MOUTH. 


Rev.  Edwin  R.   Dimock. 


Rev.   Franklin  A.  Spencer. 


ciiiiaii    iiisroKV.  59 

estcd  ill  cver\  thing-  that  pertained  to  the  well  being  of  his  parish, 
and  loved  study  and  pastoral  work.  He  did  not  believe  religion 
to  be  a  thing  of  melancholy  and  gloom,  but  rather  that  the 
Christian  ought  to  be  the  happiest  and  most  cheerful  of  persons. 
Me  was  interested  in  the  schools  of  the  town,  and  introduced 
nian\-  new  methods  of  teaching.  The  Terryville  Institute  was 
built  during  his  pastorate  and  a  public  library  and  lyceum  were 
established.  Four  young  men  of  the  chiaxh  commenced  fitting 
for  college  with  him  and  are  now  all  useful  ministers  of  the 
gospel.  It  is  doubtless  owing  to  his  influence  that  it  is  said, 
Terryville  has  fitted  more  young  men  for  college  than  any  other 
place  of  its  size  in  the  state.  In  the  summer  of  1S46  he  was 
dismissed,  and  was  employed  two  years  by  the  state,  in  holding 
Teachers'  Institutes  and  inciting  the  people  to  establish  a  Normal 
School  for  the  training  of  teachers.  The  State  Normal  School 
was  soon  ivfter  established.  During  this  time  he  supplied  the 
chinch  in  Durham,  Conn.  He  was  re-settled  in  Terryville  in 
Mav,  1S49,  where  he  remained  until  January,  1S5S.  Preaching 
was  his  delight,  and  the  church  was  built  up  in  numbers  and 
character.  The  late  Dr.  Busbnell  said,  after  an  exchange  with 
Mr.  Richardson,  that  he  had  never  preached  to  a  more  responsive 
audience,  or  one  wheie  the  majority  were  men,  and  most  of 
them  intelligent  looking  young  men. 

He  was  settled  in  Salem  Street  Church,  Worcester,  Mass., 
in  185S,  going  back  to  Terryville  in  the  early  spring,  to  receive 
forty  into  the  church,  as  they  had  no  settled  pastor  at  that  time. 
He  was  strong  in  body  and  strong  in  soul.  He  was  a  philan- 
thropist. Christian  abolitionist,  and  during  the  war  all  his 
energies  were  given  to  sustain  the  government  and  secure  the 
overthrow  of  slavery.  During  the  second  year  of  the  war,  when 
many  were  feeling  that  in  order  to  put  down  the  rebellion,  all 
the  means  God  had  placed  in  our  hands  must  be  used,  and  that 
libertv  throughout  the  land  should  be  proclaimed,  a  mass  meet- 
ing was  held  in  Mechanics'  Hall,  Worcester,  under  the  following 
call  :  "Is  the  President  waiting  to  hear  from  the  people .'  Will 
they  speak  .^ "  The  leading  men  of  the  town  were  on  the  plat- 
form, and  the  hall  was  packed  to  overflowing.  After  the 
opening  remarks  bv  the  president,  J.  S.  C.  Knowlton.  Mr.  Rich- 
ardson, in  behalf  of  a  committee,  presented  the  first  lesolutions 
sent  to  Presitlent  Lincoln,  asking  him  to  proclaim  emancipation 
to  the  slave. 

More  than  a  hundred  young  men  went  from  his  church  to 
tlie  war  (his  oldest  son,  Willis  Terry,  among  the  number),  who 
felt  as  they  went,  that  the  cause  was  more  sacred,  because  be 
had  said  to  them,  "  God  bless  you." 

After  the  war  he  was  urged  to  represent  the  people  at 
Washington,  but  he  refused  all  office,  clung  to  the  pulpit  as  his 
throne,  and  was  a  happv  and  successful  minister  of  the  gospel. 
Ill  health  overtook  him  at  last  and  he  was  obliged  to  take  rest 
for  a  time.  Receiving  a  call  to  the  New  England  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  New  York,  which  the  Rev.  Lyman  Abbot  had 
just  left,  he  accepted,  but  only  remained  two  years.     Needing  a 


6o 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Rev.   H     B.  Mead 


Rev.  L.  S.  Griggs. 


CIIUHCII    HISTOKV.  6l 

quiet  home,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  church  in  Milfoid,  ]Mass. , 
where  he  clietl  December  12,  1876,  aged  sixty-four  years.  His 
lemains  were  brought  to  Terryville  for  burial. 

Mr.  Richardson  was  twice  married.  His  lirst  wife  was 
Emily  Allen,  daughter  of  Deacon  Ira  Allen,  of  Middlebury,  \'t. 
Their  children  were  Merrill,  Cheney  and  Martha  Allen.  His 
second  wife  was  Eunice  Terry,  daughter  of  Eli  Terry,  Jr. 
Their  children  were  Willis  Terr}  ,  Charles  Holbrook,  Leila  and 
Franklin  W'hittemore. 

During  the  time  between  the  periods  of  Mr.  Richardson's 
labors.  Rev.  Judson  A.  Root  was  nominally  pastor.  He  was 
settled  October  7,  1S46,  and  dismissed  May  16,  1S49.  ^"^  ill 
health  had  incapacitated  him  for  the  performance  of  the  duties  of 
his  office  after  April  30,  1S47,  ^^  which  time  he  resigned  the 
pastoral  charge.  He  continued  to  decline  until  his  death. 
During  a  portion  of  the  time  in  which  Mr.  Root  was  pastor, 
Rev.  Samuel  J.  Andrews  was  employed  as  a  supply.  He  acted 
in  that  capacity  for  at  least  six  months.  After  the  last  dismissal 
of  Mr.  Richardson,  Edward  A.  Walker,  a  student  from  Yale 
Theological  Seminary,  supplied  the  pulpit.  In  connection  with 
his  labors,  an  extensive  revival  began,  which  continued  under 
the  efforts  of  his  successor. 

[ohn  Monteith,  Jr.,  was  ordained  pastor  October  27,  1S58. 
His  ministry  is  a  memorable  era  in  the  history  of  the  church. 
A  great  accession  of  converts  was  received;  sixty-four  in  18^8, 
seven  in  1S59,  four  in  1S60. 

Following  upon  Mr.  Monteith,  who  was  dismissed  Julv  y, 
1S60 — the  dismissal  to  take  effect  the  first  Sabbath  in  September 
— came  another  minister  directly  from  a  theological  seminary, 
A.  Hastings  Ross,  who  supplied  the  pulpit  for  six  montlis. 
His  successor  was  Rev.  Edwin  R.  Dimock,  whose  labors 
covered  a  period  of  eighteen  months.  After  Mr.  Dimock,  Rev. 
H.  H.  McFarland  supplied  for  six  months,  and  was  succeeded 
by  Rev.  Franklin  A.  Spencer,  who  was  installed  j^astor  June  24, 
1S63,  and  was  dismissed  May  i,  1S65.  A  revival  attended  his 
labors,  and  upward  of  thirty  were  added  to  the  church  by  pro- 
fession of  faith 

Rev.  E.  M.  Wright  began  labor  as  acting  pastor,  March  1 1, 
1866,  and  resigned  April  17,  1S70,  broken  down  in  health  and 
spirit  bv  the  sudden  death  of  his  wife.  Henry  H.  Mead  was 
ordained  June  7,  1871,  and  dismissed  May  12,  1S74.  During 
his  ministry  there  was  an  accession  of  thirty-three  b\  profession 
of  faith. 

Rev.  Leverett  S.  Griggs  began  labor  as  acting  pastor  Octo- 
ber 25,  1S74,  and  continued  until  October  17,  18S7.  During  his 
ministry,  covering  a  period  of  thirteen  years,  163  weie  added 
to  the  church  by  profession  of  faith.  Rev.  Wm.  F.  Arms  next 
followed  as  acting  pastor  on  March  5,  18SS,  and  remained  for 
five  years  until  May,  1S93.  There  were  thirty-six  added  by 
profession  during  these  years.  Rev.  Wm.  Alfred  Gay,  D.  D., 
has  been  acting  pastor  since  October  i,  1S93. 

The  following  figures  in  part  show^  the  growth  of  the  church. 


IlISrOHV    OF    PI-VMOl"lll. 


Rev.  W.  F.   Arms. 


z*"?**. 


Rev.   Wm^  Alfred  Ga\. 


(iiiKtii    llls^()r{^■.  6-^ 

S:artin(^  witli  :i  m(--inl)L'i  slii[)  (if  ^5  in  1838.  il  luul  ;iii  ciiiollniciit 
Decciuhcr  31,  1850,  ol  1 2,S  ;  Jamiaiy  i,  18^8,  i-|y;  Dectniber 
31,  1860,  219;  December  31 ,  1865,  J31  ;  Febriiar\  1,  1879,  277; 
Apiil  1 ,  1895,  28S. 

Dining  llie  Ht't\-se\cn  Near.sof  its  existence,  il  lias  had  the 
])ii\  ilege  in  furnishing  tour  candidates  tor  the  gospel  niinisli\ , 
viz.,  I'klwin  Johnson,  lately  pastor  ol"  the  Second  Congiegational 
Church  ol"  Bridgeport  ;  Linus  Blakeslee,  pastor  ot  the  First 
Congregational  Church  of  Topeka,  Kan.  ;  Horace  R.  Williams, 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  of  Almont,  Mich.  ;  and 
Moseley  H.  ^\'illiams,  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  American 
Sunda}-school  Union,  Philadelphia;  also  Clara  M.  lieach,  one 
of  its  members,  is  a  Bible  teacher  in  Cawnpore,  India  ;  antl 
Ralph  C.  Goodwin,  secretary  of  the  ^'.  AI.  C.  A.,  at  Cam- 
bridge, Mass. 

The  vSabbath-school  preceded  the  organization  of  the  church, 
being  Hrst  held  in  the  old  red  school  house  in  1834.  There  were 
four  classes,  taught  by  Milo  Blakeslee,  Philo  Lewis,  Miss  Rlioda 
vSvvift  (later  Mrs.  James  Hunter),  and  jNIrs.  wSherman  Guernsey. 
The  session  was  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  giving  an  oppor- 
tunity to  attend  the  morning  seivice  at  Plymouth.  Aftei  thi>, 
Bible  classes  were  held  at  private  houses,  until  the  new  chuich 
editice  was  occupied.  From  that  time  until  18^7,  the  school 
was  organized  every  year  in  the  spring,  and  closed  in  the  fall. 

There  were  no  records  kept  during  those  years,  but  it  is 
remembered  that  Deacon  Milo  Blakeslee  was  first  elected  super- 
intendent, followed  by  Warren  Goodwin,  Phineas  Hitchcock, 
James  Edmunds,  with  Miss  Hannah  Goodwin,  assistant ;  Deacon 
S.  B.  Terry,  with  Miss  Eliza  Bunnell  (Mrs.  Carpenter),  assistant ; 
Warren  Goodwin,  N.  C.  Boardman,  Gains  A.  Norton,  and  j:)er- 
haps  others,  each  serving  one  or  more  vears.  In  IVIav,  18^7, 
R.  D.  H.  Allen  was  elected,  and  it  was  decided  in  the  fall  to 
continue  the  school  through  the  winter.  The  school  had 
numbered  about  forty  in  1S45,  and  forty-five  in  1S49.  During 
the  revival  of  1858,  and  under  the  ministry  of  E.  A.  Walker,  the 
school  received  a  new  impulse,  calling  into  its  membershij) 
nearly  the  entire  congregation.  The  school  was  reorganized, 
R  D.  H.  Allen  was  again  elected  superintendent.  B.  S.  Beach, 
chorister,  which  position  he  filled  with  little  intermis.'-ion  until 
his  death;  and  A.  H.  Beach  was  elected  secretary,  acting  also 
as  assistant  superintendent,  to  which  position  he  was  elected  in 
1S59.  Mr.  Allen  continued  to  hold  the  office  of  superintendent 
until  Febiuary,  186^,  with  the  following  assistants  :  O.  D 
Hunter,  appointed  October  26,  i860,  W.  H.  Scott.  Februaiy 
I,  1S63,  and  A.  H.  Beach,  February  8,  1S64.  During  all 
these  years  Mr.  Allen  had  charge  of  a  class  of  voung  men.  and 
at  his  request,  A.  H.  Beach  acted  (peihaps  with  the  exception 
of  one  year)  as  an  extra  assistant,  by  relieving  him  of  m:inv  of 
the  details  of  the  superintendent's  office.  During  one  year,  also. 
Miss  Margaret  McCHntock  assisted,  having  the  arrangement  and 
oversight  of  the  younger  classes.  February  10,  iS6^,  James  C. 
Mix  was  chosen   superintendent,  and  M.  D.  Holcomb  assistant. 


64 


HISTORY     OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Both  having  removed  from  that  place,  J.  P.  Crawford  was 
elected  superintendent,  October  39,  186^,  and  selected  A\'.  H. 
Scott  for  assistant,  who  has  served  in  that  capacity  ever  since. 

Mr.  Crawford  was  succeeded  in  1866  by  James  Hunter  for 
five  successive  years,  and  he  by  N.  T.  Baldwin  tor  two  jears, 
then  followed  F.  W.  Mix  for  seven  years,  James  B.  Baldwin  for 
four  years,  Wm.  B.  Ells  for  three  years,  E.  L.  Pond  for  one 
year,  E.  G.  Woodward  for  two  years.  In  1890  James  B.  Bald- 
win was  again  chosen,  and  served  for  three  years  more,  making 
seven  years  in  all.  George  A.  Scott  was  appointed  in  1893,  and 
is  now  serving  for  a  third  year. 

The  house  of  worship  was  erected  with  funds  secured  bv  a 
subscription  bearing  date  September  13,  1S37,  which  amounted 
to  $3,ss8.  A  small  additional  sum  was  raised  subsequentlv  to 
complete  the  building.  The  chairman  of  the  building  committee 
was  VVyllys  Atwater,  and  tlie  Iniilder  was  Rilev  Scott. 


Terryville  Congregational  Church  Clock 

The  parsonage  was  donated  to  the  ecclesiastical  societ\-, 
August  26,  1841,  by  Eli  Terry,  Sr. 

In  ii)S3?  i^  ^^^^  period  of  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Merrill 
Kicliardson,  an  enlargement  of  the  capacity  of  the  house  of 
vvorsliip  became  necessary,  and  the  galleries  were  introduced  : 
for  which  the  sum  of  $467  was  provided  by  subscription.  In 
1878  the  building  was  raised  up  and  thoroughly  renovated,  and 
the  lecture  room  and  ladies'  parlor  constructed  underneath. 
The  total  outlay  was  something  more  than  $8,000,  including  the 
cost  of  the  organ,  which  was  contributed  by  the  Sabbath-school. 
The  chairman  of  the  building  committee  was  O.  D.  Hunter. 
Services  of  re-dedication  were  held  November  6,  1878.  In  the 
spring  of  1891  the  ladies  of  the  church  raised  something  over 
$400  and  added  a  commodious  kitchen,  opening  from  the  south 


CHiiKcn   iiisroitv. 


65 


end  of  the  lecture  room.  In  1893  the  Sabbath-school  htted  up 
the  southwest  corner  of  the  audience  room  for  the  infant  class. 

The  deacons  of  the  church  have  been  Milo  Blakesley,  Eli 
Curtiss,  Silas  B.  Terry,  Gains  A.  Norton,  R.  D.  II.  Allen,  Ira 
H.  Stoughton,  Homer  Griswold,  George  M.  Allen,  Andrew  vS. 
Gaylord,  Jason  C.  Fenn. 

The  clock  in  the  tower,  an  illustration  of  the  mechanism  of 
which  is  shown  on  the  preceding  page,  was  presented  to  the 
church  by  Eli  Terry,  and  is  one  of  the  first  tower  clocks  made 
by  him. 

TERKVVII.LE    KOMAX    CATHOLIC    CHURCH. 

In  the  early  days  of  Tenyville  there  was  no  Catholic  ser- 
vice held  there,  and  the  first  Catholics  attended  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  regularly.  Later  the  Rev.  Michael  O'Neill,  of 
Waterbury,  drove  up  once  a  month  and  mass  was  said  in  the 
house  of  Philip  Ryan  until  the  use  of  the  school  house  was  pro- 
cured. Father  O'Neill  was  followed  by  Fathers  Hendrickson, 
Bohen,  Cody,  and  others.     Some  of  the  first  Catholics  to  reside 


Interior,  Terrysille  Roman  Catholic  Church. 


here  were  Philip  and  Denis  Ryan,  William  Roach,  Martin  Kear- 
ney, Thomas  Keefe,  John  Byron,  John  McNamara,  Timothy 
Keefe,  Thomas  Higgins,  and  Timothy  McNamara.  The  five 
first  named  are  now  dead. 

No  church  edifice  was  erected  until  thirteen  years  ago,  when 
the  present  church  was  built  by  the  late  Rev.  Eugene  Gafiney. 
The  lot  on  which  it  is  built  was  bought  by  John  McNamara  and 
the  citizens,  irrespective  of  creed,  contributed  generously  to  the 
building  fund.  After  Father  Gafihey's  death  the  parish  was  for 
some  years  attended   by  Rev.  J.  W.  Fones.     He  was  succeeded 


66 


msrORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Rev.  M.  J.  Daly. 


rCrrwi  If   Reman   Catholic   (.liur^h 


cHUHcii    iiisrom'.  67 

by  Rev.  M.  J.  McGivney.  both  since  deceased.  At  present 
divine  service  is  held  ever}  Sunday  and  holy  days,  and  frequently 
on  week  days.  Rev.  M.  J.  Daly  is  in  charge,  assisted  by  Rev. 
P.  Byrne.  The  church  is  entirely  out  of  tlebt  and  has  a  mem- 
bership of  about  400. 

The  Catholic  cemetery  was  purchased  by  Philip  Ryan 
September,  1S58.  The  first  interred  in  said  cemetery  was 
Denis  Ryan,  who  died  September  3,  1S58,  aged  (ift\-eight 
years. 

THE     A1)\'ENT     CHAI'EL. 

There  are  probably  few  in  Plymouth  who  remember  that 
near  the  Levi  Bassett  farm  there  once  stood  an  Advent  Chapel. 
It  was  built  during  the  Millerite  excitement,  or  when  it  was  at 
its  height.  Rev.  Lewis  Gunn  preached  or  lectured  there  for 
about  a  year,  but  was  finally  forbidden  to  continue  as  he  was  not 
an  Adventist.  The  building  was  finally  sold  and  changed  into  a 
dwelling.  Probably  owing  to  the  f;ict  that  ^Mr.  Gunn  preached 
in  that  Advent  Chapel,  a  number  of  people  assumed  that  he  was 
a  believer  or  follower  of  their  peculiar  doctrines.  This  was  not 
so,  as  he  was  never  anything  but  a  IMethodist.  He  withdrew 
from  the  conference  before  the  war,  at  the  time  of  the  north  and 
south  church  troubles,  as  he  was  an  ardent  Abolitionist,  and 
would  not  be  muzzled  in  his  utterances  by  the  church.  xM'ter 
the  war  he  again  joined  the  conference  and  preached  as  a  regular 
pastor  in  various  places.  Senator  O.  H.  Piatt  said  of  him  : 
"  He  was  a  man  of  strong  and  unique  character,  he  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  slave,  denounced  the  slave-holder  and  his  abettors, 
and  encountered  the  persecution  which  befel  the  outspoken 
Abolitionist.  As  a  clergyman  he  was  practically  silenced  ;  the 
conference  would  give  the  Abolition  preacher  no  charge,  and  he 
retired  to  the  seclusion  of  his  modest  farm.  Lewis  Gunn  was  a 
moral  hero.  The  weapons  of  his  warfare  were  not  carnal,  but 
few  men  ever  wielded  the  sword  of  the  spirit  or  the  battle-ax  of 
the  reformer  more  fearlessly.  Had  he  lived  in  Boston  or  Phila- 
delphia, he  would  have  been  noted  as  a  leading  champion  of 
human  rights."  Mr.  Gunn  w^as  able,  independent  and  broad, 
his  discourses  were  always  interesting,  instructive  and  accept- 
able to  all  who  were  followers  of  Christ,  without  regard  to 
denomination  or  creed. 


CHAPTER     IV. 


THE    "wilderness"    AND    INDIANS.* 


Most  of  Litchfield  County  in  1712  an  Unbroken  Forest  as  Absolute  as  any  on  the 
Continent— Last  Deer  Shot  in  Northbury— Indian  Jack  and  Two  Companions 
Were  the  Only  Indians  in  Plymouth  Within  the  Remembrance  of  People  Now 
Living. 

^^T'ESTBURY  was  a  society  in  Waterbiiry,  which  town  as 
V  V  has  been  said,  was  settled  in  1677,  and  at  tliis  date  (  1739) 
was  in  New  Haven  county,  having  been  transferred  to  it  trom 
Hartford  county,  where  it  originally  belonged,  in  1728.  Bethle- 
hem was  a  parish  of  Woodbury,  which  was  settled  in  1673,  and 
belonged  to  Fairfield  county  until  the  organization  of  Litchfield 
county  in  1751  ■  Judea,  now  Washington,  was  formed  in  part 
from  territory  of  New  Milford,  which  was  settled  in  171 2,  and 
belonged  to  New  Haven  county,  until,  like  Woodbury,  on  the 
organization  of  Litchfield  county,  it  was  setotl'  to  the  new  countv. 
North  of  this  frontier  line  at  the  date  of  the  last  named  settle- 
ment, that  of  New  Milford,  in  171 2,  stretched  an  unbroken 
wilderness,  as  absolute  as  any  on  the  continent  at  the  time  ;  a 
rough  region  of  rocks  and  hills  and  swamps  and  pathless  woods, 
which  the  white  man's  foot  had  never  traversed,  in  which  not 
even  the  Indians  made  their  abode  ;  De  Forest,  in  his  history  of 
the  Indians  of  Connecticut,  telling  us  that  when  the  Mohawks 
made  their  raids  through  to  the  Connecticut  river,  as  they  used 
to  do  in  the  seventeenth  century,  they  traversed  the  whole 
breadth  of  Litchfield  county  without  meeting  a  single  human 
being ;  the  whole  region  a  wild,  lonely,  gloomy  solitude  of 
nature,  the  haunt  only  of  wild  beasts,  and  stretching  north  con- 
tinuously to  the  settlements  of  Canada.  It  is  difficult  for  us  in 
our  day,  looking  upon  the  cleared  farms,  the  smiling  homes,  the 
thronged  and  busy  towns  of  Litchfield  county,  to  realize  the 
condition  of  the  region  above  the  Woodbury  and  New  Milfoid 
line  at  that  early  day.  There  was  not  a  single  cleared  field,  nor 
smoke  from  any  white  man's  dwelling.  It  was  called  the 
"  Wilderness"  and  made  good  its  title  to  the  name.  In  the 
patent  of  Litchfield,  given  in  1724,  the  town  is  bounded  "west, 
part  on  Shepaug  river  and  part  on  the  wilderness;   north,  by  the 


*  Written  by  the  late  Rev.  E.  B.  Hillard. 


THE     "wilderness"    AND    IN1>1ANS.  69 

wilderness."  Rev.  Benjamin  Wadsworth,  afterwards  president 
of  Harvard  College,  who  accompanied  commissioners  from  the 
New  England  colonies  to  meet  the  "Five  Nations"  of  Indians  at 
Albany,  in  1694,  describes  the  journey  as  being  through  "a 
hideous  prowling  wilderness."  Bears  abounded,  and  fiercer 
wolves  roving  over  tlie  mountains  antl  tluough  the  woods,  waked 
the  silence  with  their  bowlings.  As  late  as  1747,  the  town  of 
Goshen  "voted  to  pay  Timothy  .Stanley  thirty  shillings,  old 
tenor,  for  killing  a  wolf."  Still  later,  Jacob  Beach,  in  the  same 
town,  killed  four  wolves  in  one  year,  for  which  he  received  in 
bounties  sixteen  pounds.  The  same  man,  in  another  year,  cap- 
tured in  traps  and  otherwise,  seventeen  bears.  In  May,  17S3, 
the  General  Assembly,  "the  town  of  Harwinton  being  of  late 
greatly  infested  with  wolves,"  awarded  "a  bounty  of  forty 
shillings  to  Frederick  Phelps,  of  said  town  for  killing  a  full- 
grown  wolf."  Deer  also  were  common.  In  Simsbury,  "  venison, 
for  many  years  was  a  cheaper  food  than  pork  or  beef  or  mutton." 
An  old  Indian  of  Harwinton,  whom  Leverett  .Smith  remembers, 
used  to  complain  that  the  white  hunters  had  scared  away  all  the 
game  by  the  noise  their  guns  made,  saying  that  with  bow  and 
arrows  he  coidd  go  into  the  woods,  and  in  an  hour,  get  game 
enough  to  last  for  days.  The  last  deer  known  to  have  been 
killed  in  Plymouth  was  shot  by  David  Luddington  on  the  meadow 
east  of  the  "Spruces"  below  Thomaston,  in  the  hard  winter  of 
17S0,  he  firing  across  the  river  at  the  deer  on  the  east  side. 
That  winter  was  so  severe,  the  snow  lying  four  feet  deep  in 
March  and  earlier,  travel  being  possible  only  on  snow  shoes, 
that  many  deer  perished  from  inability  to  get  food,  and  this  one 
had,  probably,  come  in  search  of  it  to  the  spot  where  he  met  his 
fate.  Nor  were  wild  beasts  the  only  terror  of  the  "Wilderness." 
Hostile  Indians  from  Canada  came  down  through  the  forest, 
keeping  the  early  settlers  in  alarm.  During  the  latter  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century  and  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth, 
England  and  France  were  at  war,  and  the  French,  having  pos- 
session of  Canada,  instigated  these  attacks. 

Before  the  settlement  of  Litchfield,  Waterbury  was  a  frontier 
town,  and  so  specially  exposed  to  such  savage  incursions, 
scouts  were  employed,  sentinels  were  stationed  on  elevated 
places  which  overlooked  the  village  and  the  meadows  where 
men  labored  during  the  day,  and  "  forts"  or  fortified  houses  were 
built  as  places  of  refuge  in  case  of  attack.  April  9,  1700,  the 
town  "voted  to  fortify  Ens.  Stanlev's  house,  and  if  it  should 
prove  troublesome  times,  and  the  town  see  they  have  need,  two 
more  should  thev  be  able."  "  Att  ye  same  meeting,  ve  town 
agreed  by  voate  for  ye  building  ye  fort  about  Ensign  Standley's 
house,  that  the  town  go  about  it  forthwith,  al  men  and  boys  and 
teams  yt  are  able  to  work,  and  to  begin  to-morrow."  This 
means  that  Ensign  Stanley's  house  should  be  fortified  by  being 
surrounded  by  "palisades,"  that  is  a  high  fence  of  posts  set 
upright,  close  to  each  other,  which  could  not  be  easily  scaled. 
"March  25,  1704,  ye  town  agreed  to  fortify  Mr.  Southmaid's 
hous," — they  meant  to  have  the  minister  safe — and  "  February  31, 


7©  HISTORY    OF    I'LViMOUlJl. 

1706,  the  town  agreed  to  build  the  foert  that  is  at  left,  (lieutenant) 
standlis  (the  '  ensign  '  has  been  promoted)  strong."  At  the 
same  meeting  the  act  was  passed  to  "  build  a  nue  foart."  "  June 
ye  33,  ijoj^  ye  town  by  voate  considering  our  troubles  and  feere 
of  an  enemie  do  agree  to  lay  a  sid  cutting  busshies  (that  is  on  the 
highways  and  common  pastures  of  the  town)  which  was  warned 
for  this  day,  and  this  da}^  forthwith  to  go  about  finishing  and 
repayring  ye  forts,  and  to  finish  them  by  Wednesday  next  at 
night."  Into  these  fortified  houses  in  time  of  alarm,  all  the  peo- 
ple resorted  at  night,  returning  again  in  the  morning  to  their 
own  homes  and  the  labors  of  the  day.  Nor  did  the  event  prove 
these  anxieties  groundless.  In  1710  a  party  of  Indians  killed  a 
man  named  Holt,  in  the  south  part  of  this  town,  on  a  spur  of 
Mt.  Toby.  About  the  same  time  another  party  captured 
Jonathan  Scott  and  his  two  boys  as  they  were  eating  their 
dinner  in  Hancock's  meadow,  now  Waterville,  and  carried  them 
oft' to  Canada.  In  Woodbury,  another  frontier  town  at  the  time, 
during  King  Philip's  war  a  watch  was  kept  from  sunset  to  sun- 
rise ;  one-fourth  of  the  men  were  kept  under  arms  every  dav, 
taking  turns;  the  watch  was  directed  to  call  up  every  man  in 
the  town  an  hour  before  day — the  usual  time  for  Indian  attacks — 
and  each  one  was  directed  to  arm  himself,  repair  to  his  appointed 
ward,  and  there  stand  guard  ready  to  repel  attack,  till  half  an 
hour  after  sunrise.  Scouts  on  horseback  were  also  sent  into  the 
woods  each  day,  with  directions  to  go  only  so  far  as  to  be  able 
to  return  by  nightfall.  "Forts"  or  fortified  houses  were  also 
erected,  as  in  Waterbury.  When  later,  in  1720,  Litchfield  came 
to  be  settled,  it  was  in  turn  a  frontier  town,  and  as  such  most 
exposed  to  Indian  attacks.  From  1720  to  1730  five  houses  were 
surrounded  by  palisades;  one  in  the  center,  one  half  a  mile 
south,  one  on  the  east  side,  one  on  the  west  side,  and  one  at 
South  Farms,  now  Morris.  Soldiers  were  stationed  to  guard 
the  inhabitants,  both  while  they  were  at  work  in  the  field,  and 
while  attending  public  worship  on  the  Sabbath.  In  May,  1722, 
Capt.  Jacob  Griswold  being  at  work  in  a  field  about  a  mile  west 
of  the  center,  two  Indians  rushed  upon  him  from  the  woods, 
took  him,  pinioned  his  arms  and  carried  him  ofi'.  During  the 
night  following  the  first  day's  march,  however,  he  managed  to 
escape  with  the  guns  of  liis  captors,  with  which,  keeping  them  at 
bay  during  their  pursuit  of  him  the  next  day,  he  got  back  to  his 
family.  The  next  year  Joseph  Harris,  while  at  work  in  the 
woods,  was  attacked  by  a  partv  of  Indians,  and  attempting  to 
escape,  they  pursued  him,  and  finding  they  coidd  not  overtake 
him,  shot  him  dead  and  scalped  him.  This  was  only  five  years 
before  Henry  Cook,  the  first  settler  here,  built  his  log  cabin  up 
the  river,  and  thus  founded  the  society  of  Northbur}'  and  the 
town  of  Plymouth  ;  and  I  have  sketched  this  outline  of  the 
region  north  and  west,  that  we  might  be  better  able  to  realize 
the  conditions  imder  which  the  new  conmiunity  here  was 
planted,  and  our  fathers  set  up  their  early  homes.  It  was  no 
child's  play.  Away  up  here  in  the  wilderness,  among  wild 
beasts  and  wilder  savages,  away  from  friends,   amid  hardships 


THE     "  WII.DEUNKSS  "     AND     INDIANS.  71 

aiui  exposures  of  every  kind,  it  re(|uiretl  a  degree  of  courage  and 
fortitude  and  endurance  that  we  know  little  ol",  and  for  which 
we  shoulil  the  more  supremely  honor  them.  At  no  small  price 
was  purchased  the  inheritance  which  we  so  freely  enjoy. 

The  "  StantUey  Farm,"  mentioned  in  the  next  chapter  as 
being  given  to  Cephas  and  Enos  Ford,  l)y  their  father,  liarnabas 
Ford,  was  part  of  the  territory  conveyed  by  the  Indians  to  John 
Stanly  and  others  of  Farmington  by  the  "black  lead  mine  deed," 
and  the  confirmatory  deed  of  1714-  It  lay  in,  and  embraced  the 
lower  part  of  the  village  of  Thomaston.  The  surveys  of  it  are 
in  the  Farmington  records,  Book  III,  p.  229.  "Bear  Hill"  is 
the  hill  which  you  go  up  past  the  house  of  Mr.  Grilley,  Sen., 
the  "  settlement"  farm  of  Rev.  Mr.  Todd,  the  first  pastor,  lying 
on  it ;  the  place  known  as  the  "  Williams  place,"  where  Thomas 
Kelly  now  lives,  being  the  old  parsonage  spot.  In  "  the  lot  laid 
out  for  ye  sake  of  a  mine,"  reappears  the  phantom  of  mineral 
wealth,  which  in  the  shape  of  the  supposed  black  lead  mine,  led 
to  the  first  investment  in  the  territory  by  the  discoverer  from 
Farmington,  and  which  has  haunted  the  region  ever  since  ;  the 
delusion  reaching  the  crown  of  amusement,  in  the  reservation 
which  the  third  John  Sutlifi'made,  in  all  the  deeds  of  land  given 
by  him  in  his  later  years,  of  "  all  mines  contained  therein,"  with 
special  designation  in  one  of  them  of  the  "  lot"  (lying  on  the 
side-hill  north  of  where  Mr.  Ransom  Sutlifi'now  lives)  "known 
as  the  Dimon  mine;"  the  precious  metals  alone  not  making  up 
the  wealth  of  the  region,  but  it  being  rich  also  in  precious  gems. 
The  account  of  the  "Common"  or  "undivided  lands"  men- 
tioned in  the  will,  and  to  which  perpetual  reference  is  made  in 
the  early  land  documents,  is  as  follows:  The  entire  territory  of 
the  town  of  Waterbury,  with  the  exception  of  the  eight-acre 
"  homelotts  "  set  ofi'  at  the  outset  to  each  of  the  first  settlers  to 
build  his  house  on,  was  owned  originallv  in  common  by  the 
company  of  those  first  settlers,  who  were  called  "  proprietors," 
and  the  ownership  of  each  in  the  common  territory  his  "pro- 
priety," or,  as  in  Mr.  Ford's  will,  "right."  Of  the  original 
proprietors,  the  share  owned  by  each  in  the  common  territory 
was  proportioned  to  the  amount  he  had  subscribed  towards  the 
settlement  of  the  town,  as  the  purchase  of  the  land  of  the  Indians, 
and  other  initial  expenses.  The  total  amount  of  those  original 
subscriptions  was  nearly  £2,600,  being  exactly  £2,580. 
Towards  this  amount,  one  had  subscribed  £100 — no  one  was 
allowed  to  subscribe  more  than  this,  to  guard  against  monopoly 
in  the  ownership  of  the  territory — another  £90,  another  £6^, 
and  so  on;  and  accordingly,  of  the  original  2,580  shares  in  the 
territory,  a  pound  subscription  representing  one  share  in  the 
land,  he  who  had  subscribed  £100  owned  100  shares,  he  who 
had  subscribed  ^90  ninety  shares,  and  so  on  ;  that  is  the  "  right  " 
or  "propriety"  of  each  settler  was  proportioned  to  the  amount 
of  his  original  subscription.  The  land  thus  owned  in  common, 
the  "  proprietors"  distributed  from  time  to  time,  in  varying  lots, 
among  themselves,  as  there  was  a  demand  for  it  in  the  market, 
the  allotment  in  each  distribution,  to  each,  being  proportioned  to 


72 


HISTORY    OK    PLYMOUTH. 


Two  Views  of  Jack's  Ledge. 


TllK    "wilderness"    AND    INDIANS.  73 

the  size  of  his  "  propriety,"  or  the  number  of  shaies  he  owned  in 
the  total  property,  the  order  of  choice  in  the  distribution  being 
determined  by  lot.  Thus,  if  it  was  agreed  to  distribute  10,000 
acres,  to  the  ^,100  proprietor  was  alloted  a  share  of  one  twenty- 
sixth  of  the  total  amount,  and  to  each  lesser  proprietor  his  pro- 
portionate share.  The  share  of  each  thus  distributed,  was 
issued  to  him  in  the  form  of  a  "land  note"  so  called.  Thus  if 
the  sliare  of  one,  in  a  particular  distribution,  was  sixty-five  acres, 
he  had  a  land  note  issued  to  him  of  sixty-five  acres,  which  he 
might  take  up  in  his  turn  (decided  by  lot)  anywhere  in  the 
township,  of  land  not  yet  taken  up,  or  "laid  out,"  as  the  term 
was.  This  allotment  he  might  then  sell  in  quantities  to  pur- 
chasers, each  particular  sale  being  endorsed  on  the  land  note  by 
the  "proprietors'  measurer,"  as  the  surveyors  employed  for  this 
purpose  by  the  proprietors  were  called,  and  so  continue  to  do 
till  the  whole  amount  of  land  expressed  in  the  note  had  been 
sold,  in  other  words  till  the  endorsements  on  the  note  amounted 
together  to  the  face  of  the  note,  when,  one  distribution  thus  being 
disposed  of,  another  would  be  made.  vSuch  purchase  was  called 
a  "  lay  out,"  because  "  laid"  or  measured  out  by  the  "proprie- 
tors' measurer,"  who  gave  to  the  purchaser  a  certificate  that  he 
had  laid  out  such  an  amount  to  him  on  the  order  of  such  a  pro- 
prietor, and  the  certificate,  containing  the  measurements  and 
bounds  of  the  piece,  constituted  the  purchaser's  title  to  the  land, 
as  in  ordinary  land  transactions  does  the  deed.  The  following 
is  a  land  order,  or  "  note  "  of  this  kind  : 

"To  the  Town  measurers  in  Waterbury  these  may  Certifie 
you  that  there  may  be  Laid  out  in  the  undivided  Land  of  s'd 
Waterbury  to  Barnabas  Ford  Six  Acres  of  Land  on  John  South- 
mayd's  property  on  the  Division  Jan.  3d  173S  provided  he  Lay 
It  Joining  to  his  other  Lands,  he  haveing  purchased  So  much  of 
sd.  Southmayd,  and  may  be  laid  out  on  the  fifteenth  of  January 
1740. 

Signed    John  Soutiiiniayd,  Clerk." 

Endorsed  :  "  laid  on  this  note,  six  acres  of  land  to  barnabas 
ford  by  me. 

William  Judd,   measurer." 

The  following  is  a  full  "lay  out,"  in  the  handwriting,  save 
the  signature,  of  Mr.  Todd  : 

"April  ye  2Tth  1740  laid  out  for  Barnaba  ford  two  acres  76 
rods  of  land  a  litel  west  of  andreses  medow  beginning  at  a  white 
oake  tree  owne  of  his  former  Corners  then  running  northward  44 
rods  to  ye  first  Station  butting  east  upon  the  highwav  West  on 
his  owne  land  north  on  ]Mr.  Sam'll  Todd's  land  laid  upon  Mr. 
John  Southmayd  wright  upon  ve  Deuition  granted  Januarv  ye  3 
1739  laid  out  by  me  William  Judd  measurer." 

In  these  "  lay  outs,"  each  purchaser  selecting  his  land 
where  he  pleased,  and  in  such  shape  as  he  pleased,  only  so  that 
the   specified    amount  was   included,    it   happened   that    certain 


74  HISrORV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

undesirable  parcels,  as  rocky  side  hills,  and  ledges  corners 
between  diflerent  lay  outs  etc.,  would  tail  to  be  taken  up  by  any 
one,  as  in  that  time  practically  worthless,  and  thus  it  has  come 
to  pass  that  there  remain  in  town  several  pieces  of  "  common  or 
undivided  land,"  which  have  never  belonged,  and  do  not  now 
belong  to  any  individual  owner,  but  are  still  the  property  of  the 
original  owners  of  the  town  or  their  heirs.  Such  a  piece  lies  on 
the  hillside  south  of  the  late  Chas.  Adkin's  house,  and  others  else- 
where. The  custom  is,  I  understand,  for  adjoining  owners  to  cut 
off  the  wood,  which  has  now  value,  in  turn,  and  unless  some  of  the 
ghosts  now  being  disturbed  in  the  old  graveyard  in  Thomaston, 
appear  to  challenge  them,  they  are  probably  safe  in  so  doing.  It  is 
somewhat  singular,  that,  after  all  the  changes  in  the  town,  certain 
pieces  of  land  remain  in  the  same  condition  as  to  ownership  which 
they  were  in  when  Henry  Cook  built  his  log  cabin  here  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-four  years  ago.  These  remaining  pieces  of  "  com- 
mon land,"  and  the  still  remaining  timbers  of  the  frame  of  the  old 
first  "School  hous "  will  do  to  go  together  in  our  museum  of 
town  antiquities.  The  last  "measurer"  in  this  society  was 
Oliver  Todd,  father  of  the  late  Samuel  Todd.  In  the  later  days 
of  tiie  old  measurers,  young  men,  not  proprietors'  measurers, 
would  do  the  actual  work  of  survey,  and  certifying  it  to  the  legal 
measurers,  thev  would  sign  the  lay  outs,  and  thus  constitute 
them  legal  titles.  Apollos  Markham  did  much  of  this  proxy 
work  in  his  earlier  years,  and  we  may  be  sure  did  it  well. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  sights  in  the  town  of  Plymouth 
is  the  old  Indian  cave  near  the  Wolcott  line,  about  four  and  a 
half  miles  from  Plymouth  Center.  Jack's  Ledge,  as  it  is  called, 
is  known  to  only  a  few  of  the  older  inhabitants  with  the  excep- 
tion of  those  living  near  it.  The  name  Indian  Heaven,  by 
which  this  section  was  formerly  called,  is  now  obsolete.  As  late 
as  1830  there  were  three  Indians  still  in  possession,  and  among 
them  Indian  Jack,  from  whom  the  ledge  has  taken  its  name. 
The  large  boulder,  which  was  very  likely  at  one  time  a  part  of 
the  mai.^.  rock,  weighs,  as  near  as  can  be  ascertained,  about  one 
thousand  tons.  It  forms  two  entrances  to  the  cave.  The  open- 
ing was  protected  from  storms  by  making  a  roof  of  trees  and 
brush.  On  entering,  there  is  a  passage  at  least  twenty  feet  long 
and  about  ten  feet  wide,  leading  into  a  solid  rock  room  which 
was  used  for  a  sleeping  place. 


C  H  A  P  T  E  R     \' 


SOME    OF    THE    PIONEERS.* 


Sketch  of  Henry  Cook,  the  First  Settler,  Together  with  Other  Biographies  of  His 
Followers  who  Petitioned  to  Make  Northbury  a  Separate  and  Distinct  Parish. 
Location  of  Their  Homes,  Value  of  Estates,  and  What  Disposition  was 
Made  of  Them. 

rHE  earliest  roll  of  Northbury  is  the  list  of  subscribers  to  the 
petition  to  the  town  for  winter  privileges,  bearing  date  of 
September  29,  1736,  and  is  as  follows: 

Henry  Cook,  John  Sutliff,  Thomas  Blakeslee,  Barnabas 
Ford,  John  How,  Johnathan  Cook,  John  Sutliff,  Jr.,  Johnathan 
Foot,  Samuel  Towner,  Samuel  Frost,  Ebenezer  Elwell,  Gideon 
Allen,  Isaac  Castle,  Daniel  Curtis,  John  Humaston. 

To  these  is  to  be  added  the  name  of  Elnathan  Taylor,  who 
was  among  the  signers  to  a  second  and  successful  petition  to  the 
same  town  meeting  at  which  the  first  was  refused.  These  six- 
teen men  were  the  pioneers  of  the  town  of  Plymouth,  and,  as 
lionoring  their  memories,  we  wish  to  know  of  each  all  that  can 
be  known. 

Henry  Cook,  whose  name  heads  the  roll,  was  the  first  set- 
tler in  the  town,  coming  here  irom  Branford,  in  1728.  He  was 
the  son  of  Henry,  of  Wallingford,  who  was  the  son  of  Henry,  of 
Plymouth,  Mass.,  before  1640;  the  earliest  settler  of  Plymouth, 
Conn.,  being  thus  a  grandson  of  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of 
Plymouth,  Mass.,  from  which  town,  doubtless,  our  town  took 
its  name.  The  English  ancestors  of  the  Cooks  were  from  the 
county  of  Kent,  and  were  of  the  Puritan  stock.  Henry,  of  Wal- 
lingford, was  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  that  town,  coming 
to  it  unmarried,  about  1674;  his  brother,  Samuel,  having  pre- 
ceded him  by  four  years,  signing  the  fundamental  articles  of  the 
town  in  1670.  Henry  was  a  farmer,  and  frequently  elected  to 
offices  of  responsibility  and  trust  by  his  townsmen.  He  married 
in  Wallingford,  and  died  there  in  170^,  aged  fifty-one  years. 
Of  him  it  is  recorded  in  the  Wallingford  records,  under  date  of 
February  19,  1689-90,  "  Hennery  Cook  cast  lots  (with  others)  for 
the  Falls  Plaine."  The  town  of  Wallingford  at  that  time 
included  the  present  town  of  Meriden.  and  "the  Falls  Plaine" 


Written  bv  the  late  Rev.  E    B.  Hillard,  in  18S2. 


76  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

was  what  is  now  South  Meriden  or  Hanover.  Henry  of  North- 
bury,  was  born  in  16S3,  and  thus  was  about  seven  years  old 
when  his  father  made  his  home  in  Hanover.  He  was  first 
married  October  S,  1709,  and  his  wife  dying  within  the  year,  he 
again  married,  the  next  year,  Mary,  daughter  of  John  and  INIary 
Frost,  of  Branford,  and  went  there  to  live;  coming  from  there, 
as  has  been  said,  to  Northbur}  ,  eighteen  years  later;  Samuel 
Frost,  another  of  the  pioneers,  being  likely  a  relative  of  his  wife. 
He  had  five  children,  all  probably  born  in  Branford :  four  sons, 
Johnathan,  who  signed  the  petition  of  1736  with  his  father,  and 
whose  name  is  thus  in  the  roll  of  the  pioneers,  Ebenezer,  Samuel 
and  Henry;  and  one  daughter,  Thankful,  the  thankfulness  of 
the  parents  for  the  gift,  perhaps,  determining  hei  name.  Three 
of  the  sons,  Johnathan,  Ebenezer  and  Henr}-,  settled  in  North- 
bury.  Of  Samuel  I  can  get  no  trace.  Johnathan  married,  June 
15,  1735?  Ruth,  daughter  of  William  Luttington,  then  of  North 
Haven,  who  followed  his  daughter  to  Northbury  two  or  three 
years  later,  his  name  first  appearing  in  the  petition  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  May,  1738.  Ebenezer  married.  May  10,  1744, 
Phebe,  daughter  of  Aloses  Blakeslee,  one  of  the  first  two  deacons 
of  the  Northbury  church,  being  chosen  to  the  office  at  the  time 
of  the  organization  of  the  church  in  1740-  They  had  eleven 
children  ;  the  mother,  who  was  married  in  her  twenty-second 
year,  being  herself  one  of  a  family  of  fourteen  children.  Two  of 
their  children  graduated  at  Yale  College  ;  Justus,  the  second 
son,  in  the  class  of  i779j  *ind  his  brother  Rozell,  seven  years 
younger  than  he,  two  years  before  him,  in  the  class  of  1777. 
Rozell  studied  for  the  ministry  ;  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
New  Haven  East  Association  in  177S,  and  was  settled  as  the 
third  pastor  of  the  church  in  Montville,  June,  1784?  where  he 
remained  till  his  death  in  1798. 

Henry,  Jr.,  married  Hannah,  daughter  of  Nathan  Benham, 
of  Waliingford,  November  7,  1745,  and  had  seven  children. 
Of  these,  the  fifth,  Lemuel,  mentioned  in  Chapter  VI,  as  the 
last  survivor  of  the  revolutionary  war. 

The  founder  of  the  Watcrhiiry  Anierican^  Edward  Bronson 
Cook,  was  the  great-great-grandson  of  Samuel,  the  brother  of 
Henry,  Sr.,  of  Northbury. 

Mark  Leavenworth,  grandson  of  Rev.  Mark  Leavenworth, 
third  pastor  of  the  Waterbury  church,  married  Anna,  great- 
granddaughter  of  Samuel,  the  cousin  of  our  Henry,  Sr.,  and  her 
daughter  became  the  wife  of  Green  Kendrick,  Esq.,  Sr.,  of 
Waterbury. 

The  site  of  Mr.  Cook's  house  cannot  now  be  positively 
determined.  Two  considerations  had  influence  in  deciding  the 
location  of  the  homes  of  the  earliest  settlers.  First,  they  must 
be  near  natural  supplies  of  good  drinking  water,  for  use  before 
wells  could  be  dug;  and  second,  it  was  desirable  that  they 
should  be  within  easy  reach  of  natural  meadows  from  which  hay 
could  be  procured  for  the  use  of  the  cattle  in  the  winter,  before 
there  was  time  to  clear  up  and  stock  artificial  meadows. 
Accordingly  we  find  that  the  earliest  settlements  were,   as  the 


SOME    OF    THE    PIONEERS.  77 

rule,  ill  the  valleys,  where,  from  the  overflow  of  the  streams 
killing  the  trees,  natural  meadows  were  formed.  This  was  the 
case  in  the  settlement  of  Hartford,  Farmington,  Waterbury,  and 
Northbury.  These  natural  meadows  were  often  formed  by  the 
overflow  from  beavers' dams ;  that  below  Lyman  D.  Baldwin's 
saw  mill  being  one  of  this  kind  ;  the  dam  which  the  beavers 
built,  nobody  knows  how  long  ago,  being  still  plainly  visible  at 
its  foot,  constructed  on  the  most  scientific  principles,  an  arch 
built  in  the  narrowest  part  of  the  outlet,  curving  up  against  the 
stream.  In  cutting  a  ditch  through  it  some  years  since,  the  logs 
were  found,  standing  on  end,  leaning  up  stream,  embedded  in 
the  mud  which  the  native  builders  had  packed  about  them,  and 
with  forms  still  preserved.  Many  of  the  homes  of  the  early  set- 
tlers in  Northbury  also  were  established  near  springs  of  water, 
as  those  of  Barnabas  Foid,  Caleb  Humaston,  John  Warner, 
Daniel  Potter,  and  others. 

Of  the  locality  of  Mr.  Cook's  home  this  only  is  known. 
Bronson,  in  his  history  of  Waterbury,  published  in  18=58,  says: 
"He  had  a  farm  on  which  he  lived,  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
river,  not  far  from  the  Litchfield  boundary."  There  was  a  verv 
early  settlement  up  the  river.  Jeremiah  Peck,  the  first  deacon 
of  the  Northbury  church,  living  there,  and  having  a  daughter 
Ruth,  whom  Rev.  Mark  Leavenworth,  then  lately  "  called,"  a 
young  man,  to  Waterbury,  but  not  yet  settled,  used  to  go  up 
there  courting,  and  preaching  in  the  neighborhood  on  his  visits- — 
taking  for  his  texts,  doubtless,  the  "  new  commandment,"  and 
parallel  passages — thus  killing  two  birds  with  one  stone,  and 
"bagging"  at  least  one  of  them,  for  he  married  the  fair  Ruth, 
February  6,  1740,  a  month  before  his  ordination.  Mr.  Peck  and 
Mr.  Cook  doubtless  were  neighbors,  and  as  we  have  seen,  their 
families  became  united  in  after  years  by  marriage. 

Mr.  Cook,  it  seems  probable,  died  not  far  from  1740.  In 
1737,  Mr.  Cook's  property  was  entered  in  the  Waterbury  Grand 
List  at  £66,  standing  the  fortieth,  in  amount,  in  the  town,  and 
the  seventh  among  the  early  settlers  of  Northbury. 

The  following  is  3.  fac-sii)iilc  of  his  signature  as  appended  to 
the  petition  of  1 736  : 

in  which,  it  will  be  seen,  his  hand  already  began  to  tremble 
from  approaching  age.  His  autograph  is  the  most  marked  and 
distinctive  of  all  the  early  signatures,  and  denotes  strength  and 
independence  of  character. 

He  was  buried,  doubtless,  in  the  old  burying  ground  in 
Thomaston,  though  no  stone  remains  to  mark  his  grave. 

Taking  him  all  in  all,  from  what  we  can  learn  of  him, 
Henry  Cook  was  a  man  of  whom  the  town  has  no  occasion  to  be 
ashamed  as  its  first  settler  and  pioneer  founder. 

John  Sutlift'was  the  second  settler  in  the  town,  coming  to  it 


yb  HlSrORV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

as  early  as  1730;  his  name  being  mentioned,  with  that  of  Henry 
Cook,  in  the  vote  of  the  town,  dated  December  14,  1730,  relating 
to  the  "school  money."  Mr.  Sutliff  was  born  m  1674;  where 
it  is  not  known.  He  came  here  from  "  Haddam  quarter,"  a  part 
of  the  original  town  of  Haddam,  which  was  annexed  to  Durham 
in  1773.  The  earliest  we  learn  of  him,  he  was  in  Branford, 
where  in  the  records  of  the  church  he  is  enrolled  as  a  member, 
joining  in  170S,  and  the  baptisms  of  his  six  oldest  daughters  (he 
had  eight),  viz.,  Hannah,  Mary,  Lydia,  Abigail,  Elizabeth,  and 
Deborah  are  entered  under  dates  of  1699,  1701,  1704,  1706,  1708, 
1710  respectively;  and  of  his  son  Abel  in  1720.  From  Branford 
Mr.  Sutliff  went  to  Durham  among  the  first  settlers  of  that  town, 
being  appointed  a  town  officer  at  the  first  town  meeting  in  1706  ; 
and  being  one  of  the  inhabitants  to  whom  the  patent  of  the  town 
was  granted  by  the  legislature  in  1708— going  still  to  Branford 
to  church,  and  having  his  children  baptized  there,  till  a  church 
was  organized  in  Durham  some  years  later.  He  had  a  brother 
Nathaniel,  who  was  with  him  in  Branford,  and  went  with  him 
to  Durham,  being  also  appointed  a  town  officer,  viz.,  constable, 
at  the  first  town  meeting  of  the  latter  town.  At  the  same  meet- 
ing it  was  voted  "that  the  pound  be  between  Nathaniel  and 
John  Sutlift',  on  the  E.  side  ot  the  street,"  by  which  it  appears 
that  the  brothers  lived  on  adjoining  farms.  On  the  granting  of 
the  patent  of  the  town  (1708)  John  was  appointed  on  a  com- 
mittee with  two  others,  to  run  the  town  lines,  and  the  next  year, 
"the  town  made  choice  of  Sergt.  John  Sutliff  to  go  to  Guilford 
and  elsewhere,  to  gather  what  money  ye  gentlemen  that  have 
farms  within  the  town  will  contribute  towards  the  building  of 
the  Meeting  house."  The  explanation  of  this  vote  is  the  follow- 
ing: The  territory  of  Durham  was  supposed  originally  to  be 
embraced  within  the  limits  of  the  adjoining  towns;  but  when 
their  lines  came  to  be  surveyed,  it  was  found  that  there  was  a 
tract  left,  not  included  in  them.  This  still  remaining  the  prop- 
erty of  the  colony,  it  became  the  custom,  when  a  citizen  had 
rendered  any  distinguished  public  service,  as  that  of  Capt.  John 
Mason  in  his  campaign  against  the  Pequots,  to  reward  him  by 
the  gift  of  a  farm  in  the  common  tract.  These  owners  did  not, 
in  many  instances,  become  residents,  and  accordingly  when  the 
town  came  to  be  settled,  there  were  no  resident  citizens  repre- 
senting their  property,  and  so,  when  the  inhabitants  came  to 
build  the  meeting  house,  though  non-residents,  they  were  applied 
to  for  aid,  and  being  gentlemen  of  distinction,  it  is  a  token  of  the 
high  standing  of  Mr.  Sutlift' among  the  early  settlers  of  the  town 
that  he  was  chosen  to  represent  them  in  their  application.  His 
brother,  Natlianiel,  was  also  one  of  the  foremost  citizens  of  the 
new  town.  In  the  Durham  records,  the  brothers  are  mentioned 
as  "  of  Deerfield,"  from  which  it  is  likely  that  that  town  in 
Massachusetts  was  their  birthplace.  There  is  also  a  power  of 
attorney,  dated  "  Durham,  Oct.  ist,  1715,"  given  by  Nathaniel 
to  his  brother  John,  empowering  him  to  collect  any  debts  due 
him  from  any  persons  "within  the  province  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bay,  and  particularly  of  John  Plimpton  of  the  town  of  Medfield 


SOMK    Ol'     Till':     I'lONEEKS. 


79 


within  the  said  province,"  which  goes  to  coniirm  the  siippositi(jn 
lliat  they  resided  in  Massachusetts  before  coming  to  Branlord. 

The  name  as  signed  by  Nathaniel  to  the  power  ol"  attorney, 
was  written  '•''  Suthet,"  which  was  likely  the  original  spelling  oi" 
the  name.  In  1723,  the  two  brothers,  John  and  Nathaniel,  set- 
tled on  Haddam  quarter,  having  the  permission  of  the  town  of 
Haddam  to  attend  public  worship  still  in  Durham  ;  and  from 
there  John  came  to  Northbury  Nathaniel  remaining  a  perma- 
nent and  prominent  inhabitant  of  Durham.  John  settled  on  the 
west  side  of  the  river  below  the  ''Spruces,"  his  house  being  on 
tiie  spot  where  Johnathan  Warner  now  lives  ;  a  supply  of  good 
water  being  handy  in  the  brook,  fed  from  springs,  that  runs  on 
the  north  side  at  the  foot  of  the  knoll  on  which  the  house  stood. 
He  came  to  own  all  the  land  west  as  far  as  the  "  Hemlocks  "  and 
between  Cemetery  Hill  on  the  north  and  the  Knife  Shop  village 
on  the  south;  the  tract  being  known  as  '' Sutlirt\Swamp."  He 
also  owned  the  mill  privilege  at  what  is  now  known  as  the 
Woolen  mill;  having  a  grist  mill  there,  the  first  one  in  the  town, 
and  so  he  became  the  pioneer  miller  of  the  town. 

An  original  will  of  his  is  in  existence  in  the  possession  of 
Bennett  Sutlifi",  dated  March  3,  1740-41,  bearing  his  signature, 
and  those  of  Samuel  Todd,  the  first  pastor  of  the  Northbury 
church  and  "  Mercey,"  his  wife,  and  Caleb  Humaston,  as  wit- 
nesses. This  will  was  supeiscded  by  a  later  one,  on  which  his 
estate  was  settled,  but  which  difiered  from  this  only  in  one  or 
two  minor  points.  In  this  will  he  says,  "Being  in  ye  Exercise 
of  mv  reason  and  understanding  Touching  yt  worldly  estate  where- 
with it  hath  pleased  God  to  bless  me,  I  Demise  and  dispose  of 
ye  Same  In  The  following  manner."  He  then  goes  on  to 
bequeathe  unto  his  "well  beloved  wife  Hannah"  one-third  part 
of  his  movable  estate,  and  the  use  of  one-third  part  of  his  real 
estate  during  her  natural  life.  To  his  son  John  he  gives  all  the 
land  lying  on  the  north  side  of  the  highway  running  through  his 
farm  (the  old  Waterbury  and  Litchfield  road),  and  to  his  other 
son,  Abel,  the  land  lying  on  the  south  side  of  the  same.  To 
John  he  gives  "a  horse,  having  liberty  to  choose,  also  a  bridle 
and  saddle,  and  my  hunting  gun  and  pistol  and  sword."  To 
Abel  a  horse,  "having  liberty  to  choose  after  John  hath  chosen, 
also  a  bridle  and  saddle,  a  gun  and  pistol."  His  sword  was 
doubtless  the  one  he  carried  as  captain  before  coming  to  North- 
bury. The  two-thirds  of  his  movable  estate  not  given  to  his 
wife  he  gives  to  his  eight  daughters,  the  six  already  named  and 
Martha  and  Dinah.  His  farming  utensils  he  gives  to  his  sons, 
and  also  his  "  corn  mill  with  the  land  on  which  ye  s'd  mill 
standeth,  which  (land)  I  bought  of  Capt.  Thomas  Judd  of 
Waterbury,"  reserving  to  his  wife  "  one-third  part  of  ye  profit 
of  ye  toll  of  s'd  mill  to  be  at  her  dispose  During  her  natural  life." 
He  appointed  his  two  sons  executors  of  his  will. 

Of  these  sons,  John  was  the  sixth  deacon  of  the  Northburv 
Dhurch,  being  chosen  in  1744.  He  lived  and  kept  tavern  in  the 
house  where  Wm.  A.  Leigh,  the  stone-cutter  now  lives,  the 
present  house  being  the  one  he  built.     There  is  a  tradition,  that 


8o  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

in  digging  the  well,  when  they  got  down  to  the  rock,  instead  of 
drilling  and  blasting  in  the  way  now  usual,  they  filled  the  hole 
with  wood,  and  having  thus  heated  the  rock,  split  it  by  pouring 
vinegar  on  it,  which  if  I  remember,  was  the  way  in  which 
Hannibal  is  said  to  have  split  the  rocks  in  cutting  a  way  in  his 
march  over  the  Alps.  At  any  rate  Mr  Leigh  tells  me  that  the 
rock  at  the  bottom  of  the  well  is  thus  cracked  without  drill  hole, 
and  that  the  water  flows  in  through  the  fissure.  Deacon  John 
Sutlift'  died  January  29,  1790,  aged  seventy-six  years,  as  his 
stone,  in  the  old  burying  ground  in  Thomaston  records,  being 
thus  born  in  17145  'intl  six  years  older  than  his  brother  Abel. 

John,  Jr. ,  married  first  Anne  Ives,  daughter  of  Thomas  Ives, 
of  New  Haven,  July  12,  1741-  She  had  one  child,  John  the  3d, 
born  March  3i,  1743,  and  died  August  5,  1746,  aged  3.  Her 
grave  with  the  stone  plainly  marked  is  in  the  old  burving  ground 
in  Thomaston,  next  but  one  to  her  husband's;  the  intervening 
grave  being  that  of  his  second  wife,  Martha  Bassett,  the  daughter 
of  Samuel  Bassett,  of  New  Haven,  married  April  9,  1747,  by 
whom  he  had  five  children.  He  had  a  third  wife,  Esther,  who 
survived  him.  He  was  in  the  old  French  and  Indian  war,  enter- 
ing as  lieutenant  and  coming  out  as  captain. 

Abel  married  Sarah,  the  daughter  of  Barnabas  Ford,  and 
had  four  children,  Dinah,  Abel,  Darius  and  Lucas.  He  died 
September  26,  1776.  John,  Sr.,  died  October  14,  1752,  aged 
seventy-eight  years.  His  wife  Hannah  died  November  9,  1761. 
Both  are  doubtless  buried  in  the  old  Thomaston  ground,  though 
their  gravestones  do  not  remain. 

The  old  pioneer  was  a  man  of  note  in  his  day.  He  was  one 
of  the  foremost  men  in  Northbury,  as  he  had  been  in  Durham. 
His  estate  was  entered  in  the  Waterbury  grand  list  of  i737i  '^^ 
£91  4s.  At  his  death  it  inventoried,  the  land  at  £1,330,  the 
balance  of  the  estate  at  .£64  =5  17s,  Thomas  Blakeslee  and  Jacob 
Blakeslee  being  the  appraisers.  There  is  a  cane,  in  the  posses- 
sion of  John  Sutlift',  of  Bristol,  the  fifth  John,  marked  on  a  silver 
band  just  under  the  knob,  "  Capt.  John  Sutlief,  1765" — marked 
by  our  John  the  2d,  the  Deacon — which  the  family  tradition 
says  was  brought  over  from  England,  and  has  been  handed 
down  from  John  to  John  in  the  family  line  to  the  presentholder. 

John  the  3d,  son  of  the  deacon,  was  afflicted  with  a  mining 
passion  which  became  a  monomania.  For  years  he  worked  at 
mining  just  below  the  Spruces,  the  hole  where  he  entered  still 
remaining. 

He  had  twelve  children,  and  was  the  first  to  come  to  meet- 
ing on  the  Hill  in  a  wheeled  vehicle  ;  Mrs.  Hart  remembering 
the  long  wagon  in  which  he  used  to  bring  his  whole  family  up 
the  long  hill.  With  such  families  nowadays,  the  meeting 
houses  would  be  filled  as  they  were  of  old. 

The  next  settlers  after  John  Sutlift'were  Samuel  Towner, 
Elnathan  Taylor,  and  Johnathan  Cook,  these  three  coming 
before  the  close  of  1731- 

Of  Samuel  Towner  this  only  is  known.  His  name  disap- 
pears from  the  Northbury  petitions  with  that  of  May,  173S,  and 


SOMK    OK     rilE    PIONEERS.  8l 

he  is  found  in  Goshen  in  1740  lie  probably  went  up  tlierc  in 
the  spring  of  1739.  A  good  many  settlers  were  attracted  to  that 
town  in  the  expectation  that  it  would  be  made  the  county  seat, 
when  a  county  should  be  formed  ;  an  expectation  justified  by  its 
central  position  in  the  county,  but  which  in  the  event  was  des- 
tined to  be  disappointed.  Mr.  Towner  was  a  man  of  large 
means  for  the  time,  his  estate  being  entered  in  the  Waterbury 
grand  list  of  1737  at  j£88  ;  only  one  of  the  "  pioneers,"  John 
Sutlifi',  rating  above  him.  Where  he  lived  here  is  not  known. 
From  Goshen  he  went,  in  i750'>  to  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.,  and 
in  17S6-7,  moved  l:»ack  to  Goshen,  where  his  descendants 
remained,  and  whence  they  spread. 

Of  Elnathan  Taylor  this  only  is  known,  that  he  owned  the 
land  now  constituting  the  old  burying  ground  in  Thomaston, 
and  that  he  deeded  it  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Water- 
bury  for  that  use,  in  1735.  His  name  does  not  appear  in  the 
grand  list  of  1737,  nor  in  any  petition  of  the  "  up  river  inhabi- 
tants," after  the  town  meeting  of  September  29,  1736.  He 
probably  left  soon  after  that  date.  Where  he  went  to  is  not 
known.  His  house,  as  we  learn  from  the  deed  of  the  burying 
ground,  was  "on  the  plain,"  by  the  burving  ground  or  a  little 
southward  of  it. 

Johnathan  Foot's  name  I  must  pass  over,  with  simply  say- 
ing that  he  died  in  1754;  and  that  in  his  will,  which  is  on 
record  in  the  probate  office  in  Woodbury — as  are  all  the  wills  of 
the  pioneers,  Waterbury  being  at  that  time  in  the  Woodbury 
probate  district — he  mentions  an  island,  known  as  "  Welton's 
Island,"  as  "  lying  up  the  river."  Where  that  island  is  I  cannot 
learn.  Knowing  its  location,  we  should  from  it  have  some  idea 
where  Mr.  Foot  lived. 

Isaac  Castle  was  a  native  of  Woodbury.  He  was  the  son 
of  Isaac,  and  the  grandson  of  Henry,  one  of  the  emigrants  from 
Stratford  to  Woodburv  in  the  settlement  of  the  latter  town.  He 
was  baptized  August  9,  1707,  but  was  born  earlier,  as  his  brother 
S.miuel,  next  younger,  was  baptized  the  same  day  with  him. 
He  married,  January  21,  1723,  Taplier,  the  daughter  and  oldest 
child  of  John  Warner,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Westbury, 
the  first  physician  of  that  society,  and  on  the  organization  of  the 
church,  chosen  one  of  its  first  deacons  ;  the  uncle  of  Deacon 
John  Warner,  third  deacon  of  the  Northbury  church.  Mr.  Castle 
removed  from  Woodbury  to  Westbury  in  1725,  his  first  child 
being  born  in  the  latter  place  in  August  of  that  year.  He  came 
to  Northbury  as  early  as  1736,  his  name  being  signed  to  the  first 
petition  of  the  Northbury  inhabitants  for  winter  privileges,  Sep- 
tember 29,  1736.  In  John  How's  deed  of  the  first  public  ground, 
he  describes  the  land  as  "taken  oft^  the  land  I  had  of  Isaac 
Castle."  His  first  wife,  bv  whom  he  had  five  children,  Ashel, 
Sarah,  Mary,  Lydia,  and  Abisbai,  born  respectively,  in  172^, 
'37,  '30,  '35.  and  '38,  died  soon  after  he  came  to  Northbury. 
He  married  for  his  second  wife,  December  21,  174O1  Lydia, 
daughter  of  Richard  Scott,  "of  Sunderland,"  by  whom  he  had 
eight   children,    Tapher,    Elizabeth,   Isaac,   Nehitable,    Richard, 


82  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

Daniel,  Amasa,  and  Jedidah,  born  respectively,  in  1741,  '43,  '45,. 
'47,  '49,  'i^i,  '55,  and  '57,  making  the  whole  number  ot"  liih  chii 
dren  thirteen.  Ashel,  his  eldest  son,  married  a  daughter  of 
Gideon  Allen,  another  of  the  pioneers.  Where  his  hoube  stood 
is  not  known,  the  surmise  that  it  stood  on  the  east  side  of  the 
river,  being  only  a  surmise,  from  the  circumstance  that  ti;e  hill 
between  Thomaston  and  Plymouth  was  formerly  called  "•  Castles' 
Hill,"  but  this  name  was  given  to  the  hill  from  the  fact  that  four 
Castle  brothers  lived  on  it,  and  in  the  distribution  of  the  high- 
ways for  working,  as  was  the  custom,  each  settler  taking  a 
section  to  keep  in  repair,  these  brothers  took  the  long  hill,  and 
it  was  from  this  called  "the  Castles'  hill."  In  the  list  of  Water- 
bury  estates  of  1737,  Mr.  Castle  is  entered  £41.  When  he  died 
or  where  he  was  buried  is  not  known. 

Daniel  Curtiss  came  from  VVallingford,  of  which  town,  his 
father,  Isaac  Curtiss,  was  one  of  the  original  proprietors.  He 
was  born  August  7,  1707.  His  mother  was  Abigail  Tuttle. 
The  Connecticut  Curtisses  are  descended  from  William  Curtiss, 
who  came  over  from  England  in  1632,  landing  at  Scituate, 
Mass.,  from  which  place  he  removed,  first  to  Roxbury,  Mass., 
then  to  Stratford,  Conn.,  whence  the  VVallingford  Curtisses- 
came  to  that  town.  In  November,  1679,  the  town  "granted  to 
Neh.  Royce,  Isaac  Curtiss,  each  3  acres,  and  Nathaniel  How 
and  Isaac  Royce,  each  2  acres,  and  all  at  'dog's  misery,'"  this 
latter  locality  being  a  swampy  tract,  in  which  wild  animals 
when  hunted  took  refuge,  and  which  was  so  thick,  tangled  and 
miiy,  that  the  dogs  of  the  hunters  were  tormented  in  their 
attempts  to  get  at  the  game,  whence  its  name,  "dog's  misery." 
In  this  action  of  the  town  we  come  upon  the  names  of  others  of 
the  pioneer  settlers  of  Northbury.  This  "  dog's  miser\,"  it 
seems,  was  the  occasion  of  misery  not  to  the  dogs  only,  but  also 
to  their  owners,  as  appears  by  a  petition  to  the  town,  bearing 
date  of  March  16,  1696,  and  commencing  as  follows:  "We 
whose  names  are  underwritten,  being  in  some  mesure  sencable 
of  ye  mezery  of  Contention  and  yt  there  is  too  much  of  it  in  our 
Town  and  one  part  of  it  is  about  dogs  mezery,  which  may  hasard 
Charge  to  ye  Town,  if  not  timely  prevented,  &c."  Signed  by 
Nehemiah  Royce,  the  grandfather  of  our  Phineas  Royce, 
Nathaniel  How,  of  the  family  of  our  John  How,  Isaac  Curtiss 
and  others.  Mr.  Curtiss  was  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of^ 
Northbury.  He  came  with  a  family,  his  wife's  name  being 
"  Lettice,"  and  they  bringing  with  them  two  children,  Ebenezer 
and  Jotham.  Their  third  child,  Jesse,  v/as  the  first  child  born 
in  Northbury,  the  date  of  his  birth  being  September  22,  1733; 
Samuel  How,  reported  the  first  child  born  here,  not  being  born 
here,  but  in  Wallingford  He  had  other  children  born  here  as 
follows  :  Abigail  in  1735,  Lucy  in  '37,  Isaac  in  '40,  Sarah  in  '42, 
Ruth  in  '44,  Lettice  in  '46,  and  Daniel  in  '48,  ten  in  all.  He 
died  November  2c;,  1750,  in  the  forty-third  year  oi"  his  age,  leav- 
ing an  estate  appraised  by  John  Humaston,  Caleb  Humaston  and 
John  Bronson,  at  ^4,468  12s,  being  the  largest  estate  left  bv 
any  of  the  pioneers,  that  of  Caleb  Humaston  being  next. 


SO.MK    OK    THE    PIONEEKS.  83 

The  estate  of  Mr.  Cuitiss  was  entered  in  the  Waterbuiy  list 
of  1737,  at  ^33-  By  what  process  he  managed  to  increase  this 
in  a  little  over  twenty  years  to  ^^4,500,  it  would  be  interesting 
to  know,  especially  with  a  family  of  ten  children  on  his  hands. 
Perhaps  the  Lord  helped  him  out  as  a  reward  for  his  domestic 
faithfulness. 

Mr.  Curtiss  was  a  prominent  man  in  the  new  community, 
in  extending  a  call  to  Rev.  Mr.  'I'odd  to  he  their  pastor,  he  was 
appointed  with  Moses  Blakeslee  and  Jeremiah  Peck  (chosen  the 
two  first  deacons)  to  convey  the  call  to  Mr.  Todd,  and  receive 
his  answer.  In  the  military  line,  he  attained  as  early  as  174S  to 
the  distinction  of  lieutenant,  by  which  title  he  was  afterwards 
known.  He  lies  buried  in  the  old  ground  on  the  Hill,  his  grave- 
stone bearing  the  following  inscription  : 

"  Here  lies  ye  Body  of  Lieut.  Daniel  Gurtiss,  he  died 
Novbr  ye  25th,  1750,  in  ye  43d  year  of  his  age.  Mortals  attend 
to  learn  your  end."  His  wife  lies  buried  beside  him,  having  died 
the  year  before  him,  in  the  thirty-ninth  year  of  her  age. 

Ebenezer  Elwell  came  from  Branford,  with  a  family,  in 
1733.  Seven  of  his  children  were  born  before  he  came  to 
Northbury,  the  first  born  here,  Anne,  being  entered  in  the 
Waterbury  records  as  his  "  Sth,"  "born  Dec.  =;th,  1733,"  and 
so  being  the  second  child,  and  first  girl  born  in  Northbury;  thus 
taking  the  head  over  Experience  Blakeslee,  daughter  of  Capt. 
Thomas,  whom  tradition  has  reported  as  the  first  female  child 
born  in  Northbury,  but  who  was  not  born  till  January  3,  1734-5. 
His  ninth  and  last  child  was  Samuel,  born  April  27,  1736. 
His  other  children,  born  before  coming  here,  were  Ebenezer, 
Mark,  Johnathan,  Catherine,  Judith  and  Lydia,  and  one  whose 
name  I  do  not  learn.  His  wife,  Catherine,  died  January  9, 
1743-4;  and  he  married  again  in  1744,  Hannah,  daughter  of 
Edmund  Scott,  of  Waterbury.  He  died  December  24,  1754. 
Where  he  lived,  or  where  he  was  buried,  I  have  not  been  able 
to  learn.  Amongthe  bequests  of  his  will — which  was  witnessed 
by  Rev.  Mr.  Todd  and  John  How,  being  doubtless  written  by 
Mr.  Todd — was  "  land  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,"  appraised 
at  ^^284,  to  Ebenezer,  and  "land  on  the  west  side  of  the  river," 
appraised  at  ^1,242,  to  Mark.  His  daughter  Catherine,  or 
"Catrine"  as  her  name  was  written,  was  married  to  Abraham 
Luddington  ;  Judith  to  James  Curtiss;  and  Lydia  to  Nathaniel 
Barnes.  To  Anne,  unmarried  at  the  date  of  his  death,  her 
father,  to  console  her  doubtless  for  the  lack  of  a  husband,  made 
the  following  bequest:  "I  do  will  and  bequeathe  to  mv 
daughter  Anne,  my  great  Brass  Kettle,  to  be  her  own  " —  a  rare 
treasure  in  those  days,  and  which  likely  secured  her  a  husband 
as  soon  as  the  bequest  was  known.  Mr.  Elwell's  property  was 
entered  in  the  Waterbury  grand  list  of  1737,  at  ^"74,  so  that  he 
too  had  prospered  in  his  worldly  estate. 

Barnabas  Ford  was,  in  more  senses  than  one,  the  "  head 
centre  "  of  the  new  community.  His  "new  dwelling  house" 
was  the  centre  of  the  circuit  of  two  and  a  half  miles  radius, 
which  the  early  petitions  specified  as  the  proposed   limit  of  the 


§4  HISTORY    OF    I'LVMOUTH. 

independent  winter  privileges  asked  for  ;  and  he  appears  to  have 
been  the  chief  land  owner  of  the  early  settlement,  being  satisfied, 
tradition  says,  with  no  less  than  ''all  the  land  that  lay  next  to 
his."  He  came  from  Wallingford  in  the  spring  of  1736,  having 
come  to  that  town  from  New  Haven  about  1718.  He  brought 
with  him  a  family  of  five  children,  viz.,  Ebenezer,  Cephas,  Enos, 
Sarah  and  Mary,  and  there  were  born  to  him  here,  Zillah,  and 
Abel,  the  latter  January  39,  1737-S.  His  callmg,  as  specified 
in  a  deed  given  by  Daniel  Tuttle,  of  Wallingford,  bearing  date 
of  1720,  was  that  of  "  Gentleman  Taylor."  He  had  a  brother 
Benjamin,  who  also  was  a  "  Weavor."  The  family  thus  seems 
to  have  been  in  the  clothier  line,  Barnabas  being  the  pioneer 
tailor  of  Northbury  There  was  another  brother  in  New  Haven, 
Matthew,  a  "•husbandman."  The  spring  before  coming  here, 
April  12,  1735?  Mr.  Ford  bought  of  "Joseph  Chittenden,  of 
Waterbury,  husbandman,"  "for  and  in  consideration  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  money,  well  and  truelypaid,  acertaine 
piece  or  parcell  of  Land,  lying  and  being  in  s'd  Waterbury,  con- 
taining forty-five  acres  and  a  half  acre,  as  the  same  lyeth  butted 
and  bounded  Northerly  by  the  common  land,  easterly  in  part  by 
Joseph  Hurlburt's  Land,  and  part  by  the  Highwav,  westerly,  by 
Common  Land,  running  to  a  poynt  at  the  South  and  to  a  heap 
of  stones  which  is  the  bounds,  with  a  small  dwelling  House." 
This  was  the  "  new  dwelling  House,"  which  was  "  the  centre  of 
the  village  we  live  in,"  as  said  the  early  petitions.  This  farm 
and  house,  Mr.  Ford  "  lett  and  farm  lett"back  again  to  s'd 
Chittenden  "to  use  and  improve  for  grass  and  raising  of  grain 
as  ye  s'd  Chittenden  shall  think  fitt,  until  the  30th  day  of  March 
next  ensuing,"  that  is,  1736,  with  the  proviso  that  "  the  said 
Joseph  Chittenden  is  wholly  prohibited  and  forbidden  to  cut  any 
sort  of  timber,  Small  or  great  upon  s'd  farm  during  his  living 
upon  s'd  farm."  The  "small  dwelling  House"  mentioned  in 
this  deed,  which  was  the  first  home  of  the  Fords  in  Northbmy, 
stood  not  far  from  where  the  present  academy  in  Thomaston 
now  stands,  the  site  of  it  being  originally  determined,  doubtless, 
by  the  living  spring  of  water  near  by,  from  which,  with  other 
springs,  a  good  sized  brook  used  to  flow  down  through  the  run 
leading  to  "  Twitch  grass  meadow,"  Mrs.  Hart  remembering 
that,  in  her  girlhood,  her  folks  used  to  water  their  horses  in  it  as 
they  went  home  to  Humaston  Hill,  after  meeting,  Sundavs. 
At  the  spring  too,  the  boys  used  to  slake  their  thirst,  as  they 
footed  it,  barefoot,  to  and  from  meeting  on  Plymouth  Hill. 
The  old  chimney  stack  of  the  house  was  still  standing  in  Mrs. 
Hart's  early  years,  and  she  said  that  they  used  to  sav  that  was 
"  Barney  Ford's  house."  To  the  farm  he  had  of  Joseph  Chitten- 
den, he  added  by  purchase  of  those  owning  lands  adjoining,  as 
John  Southmayd,  Isaac  Castle — who  signed  with  a  "  mark" — 
John  How,  Thomas  Clark,  and  Jeremiah  Feck,  of  Waterburv, 
Benajah  Stone,  of"  Gilford,"  Timothy  Stanley,  of  Farmington, 
and  others,  until  he  owned  most  of  the  land  in  what  is  now  the 
village  of  Thomaston.  At  the  October  session  of  the  General 
Assembly,  1738,  liberty  was  granted  to  the  "Northerly  inhab- 


SOME    OF    THK     I'lONKKHS.  85 

itants"  to  employ  a  minister  for  two  years,  witli  exemption  from 
parish  rates  at  the  town  center  for  that  time.  In  prospect  of  the 
settlement  of  a  minister,  Mr.  Ford,  December  13,  1738,  "  for  the 
consideiation  of  being  freed  from  the  charge  of  settling  the  first 
minister  In  the  north  part  of  the  Bounds  of  Waterbury  upon  the 
River,"  gave  to  "  the  said  Society  and  the  present  inhabitants, 
two  acres  of  land,  to  be  taken  of  the  North  part  of  my  farm.  In 
the  following  form,  viz.  :  beginning  at  the  Southwest  corner  of 
Sam'l  Frost's  land,  etc."  This  land  was  part  of  the  "Settle- 
ment" given  Rev.  Mr.  Todd  at  his  installation  as  first  pastor  of 
the  Northbury  cliurch.  A  year  and  a  half  later,  Mr.  Todd  sold 
and  deeded  back  to  Mr.  Ford  an  acre  and  fifty  rods  of  this  land, 
"  to  be  taken  of  my  Home  Lott."  When  the  Episcopal  church 
came  to  be  organized  in  Northbury,  Mr.  k^ord,  "in  consideration 
of  one  hundred  pounds  money,  contributed  to  me  by  my  neigh- 
bors, members  of  the  church  of  England,  by  and  with  their 
advice,  for  the  first  of  the  lands  to  endow  the  said  church  in 
Northbury,"  as  runs  the  deed,  deeded  to  the  "  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  the  English  pro- 
selyting societv,  "  one  piece  of  land  containing  forty  acres  being 
and  lying  in  said  Northbury,  eastward  from  the  church,  it  being 
the  west  end  of  the  farm  that  belonged  to  Thomas  Clark,  of 
Waterbury."  The  first  church  property,  thus,  in  each  society, 
came  from  the  land  of  Mr.  Ford.  At  the  organization  of  the 
society  of  Northbury  in  1739,  he  was  one  of  the  three,  who,  as 
the  law  required,  applied  for  the  issuing  of  the  "  worant"  warn- 
ing the  first  society  meeting,  and  at  that  meeting  he  was  chosen 
"  Clark  for  the  Sosiaty  of  Northbury,"  and  the  opening  records 
of  the  society  are  in  his  handwriting.  "At  ye  same  (first) 
meating  (of  the  society)  it  was  voted  that  Jeremiah  Peck,  Daniel 
Cuitiss  and  Barnabas  Ford,  should  be  freed  from  ye  charge  of 
boulding  Mr.  .Samuel  todd's  house ;"  Mr.  Ford,  for  the  con- 
sideration of  the  two  acres  given  to  the  society  the  year  before, 
as  the  other  two,  doubtless,  for  like  considerations. 

Mr.  Ford  died  March  10,  1746-7,  in  the  fifty-third  year  of 
his  age.  His  will,  which  is  a  long  and  elaborate  one,  com- 
mences with  the  following  preamble,  illustrative  of  the  style  ot 
his  time,  for  nearly  all  the  wills  then  written,  began  in  about  the 
same  way : 

"  In  the  name  of  God  amen  :  the  37th  day  of  January  in  ye 
year  of  our  Lord  1746.  I  Barnabas  Ford  of  Northbury,  in  ye 
County  of  New  Haven,  in  his  majesties  Colony  of  Connecticut 
in  New  England,  being  weak  of  body  but  of  sound  mind  and 
memory,  thanks  be  to  God,  and  calling  to  mind  my  own 
mortality,  and  knowing  that  it  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to 
die,  do  ordain  this  my  last  will  and  Testament,  that  it  is  to  say 
principally  I  Give  and  recommend  my  soul  into  ye  hands  of 
God  that  gave  it,  hoping  thro  Jesus  Christ  my  Savior  to  have 
free  pardon  of  all  my  sins  and  to  inherit  Eternal  life,  and  my 
body  I  commit  to  ye  earth  to  be  decently  buried  at  ye  discretion 
of  mv  Executors  hereafter  named,  believing  that  at  ye  general 
Resurrection  of  ve  dead  I  shall  receive  the  same  again  by  ye 


86  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

mighty  power  of  God  ;  and  as  touching  the  worldly  estate 
wherewith  it  hath  pleased  God  to  bless  me  in  this  lite,  I  Give 
demise  and  dispose  in  the  following  manner." 

To  his  "  well  beloved  wife,  Mary  Ford,"  he  gives  "ye  use 
and  improvement  of  one-third  part  of  all  ye  Land  in  the  Farm 
that  my  house  and  Barn  stands  on  in  s'd  Northbury,  together 
witn  one-third  part  of  my  barn  and  one-half  of  my  dwelling 
house,  that  is  the  South  Westerly  end  of  s'd  house  &c."  To 
Ebenezer,  his  eldest  son,  he  gives  the  other  half  of  the  house, 
etc.  To  his  two  sons  Cephas  and  Enos,  he  gives  "  the  whole  of 
my  lot  of  land  known  by  ye  name  of  my  Standley  farm,  together 
with  forty  and  three  acres  upon  Bear  Hill,  which  I  bought  of 
Mr.  Todd,  and  six  acres  which  I  laid  OMt  adjoining  to  it,  and  the 
whole  of  my  part  of  the  lot  laid  out  for  ye  sake  of  a  mine,  and 
the  whole  of  my  undivided  right  in  the  Common  Lands  in 
Waterbury,  etc." 

Mr.  Ford  bequeathes  three  guns  to  three  of  his  boys;  "to 
my  son  Ebenezer  my  old  Gun,"  "  to  my  son  Cephas  ye  Gun 
that  I  bought  of  Mr.  Cole,"  "to  my  son  Enos  ye  Gun  that  I 
bought  of  Serj't  Royce."  He  was  thus  well  armed.  His 
youngest  son  Abel,  then  only  eight  years  old,  he  probably 
thought  too  young  to  be  intrusted  with  firearms.  Mr.  Ford's 
daughter  Sarah,  had  already  married  Abel  Sutlifl',  the  youngest 
and  somewhat  shiftless  son  of  the  ist  John  Sutliff,  and  from  the 
following  note  from  Thomas  Clark,  Justice  of  Waterbury,  it 
would  seem  that  he  found  difficulty  in  drawing  out  of  his  rich 
father-in-law  all  the  money  he  wanted  : 

"To  Mr  Barnabas  ford  Sir  your  son  in  law  Abel  Sutliff 
wants  to  borrow  fifty-five  shillings  if  you  please  to  let  him  have 
so  much  and  I  will  wait  till  June  next  for    it. 

Thomas  Clakk." 

Whether  this  intercession  prevailed  with  the  obdurate 
father-in-law  or  not,  does  not  appear. 

Mr.  Ford's  "  well  beloved  wife  Mary,"  left  by  the  will  in 
the  care  of  her  sons  Ebenezer  and  Abel,  seems  not  to  have  fared 
altogether  happily  at  their  hands.  A  controversy  manifestly 
arose  between  them  as  to  the  cost  of  providing  for  her,  the  fol- 
lowing bill  against  her  being  found  among  the  Ford  papers  : 

"  Mother  Ford  Deter  for  my  wifes  Looking  after  Her  dress- 
ing and  undressing  Her  washing  baking  and  Brewing  for  Her 
and  brother  Abel  from  May  in  the  year  1757  until  november  in 
Ad  175S  and  some  afterwards,  itt  all  amounts  to  the  sum  of 
^6  so  do. 

Here  we  see  the  old  woman,  helpless  in  her  age,  and  a 
subject  ot  quarrel  between  her  two  sons.  This  quarrel  about 
their  mother's  support  was  finally  left  out  to  arbitrators  to  deter- 
mine, and  thev  rendered  the  following  decree: 

Northbury  May  ye  12,  1766. 
we  the  arbitrators  in  a  Case  Depending  between  wid.  marah 
Ford   and  her   Sons   Eben'r  &  abel,  being  met  at  ye  Dweeling 


SOME    OK    THE    PIONEERS.  Sj 

house  of  Eliphalet  Hartshorn  have  Considered  ye  above  s'd  case 
«S:  liave  agreed  that  Each  of  her  s'd  Sons  shall  give  ye  s'd  widdow 
one  pound  ten  Shillings  pr  annum  to  be  paid  in  provitions. 

Eliphalet  Hartshorn  ") 

Abner  Blakeslee  >■  arbetrators. 

AsHER  Blakeslee  j 

It  was  a  significant  mistake  which  the  arbitrators  made  in 
rendering  their  decree  in  the  widow's  name — "  Marah  "  instead 
of  "  Mary  " — for  the  life  of  the  "well  beloved"  of  her  husband 
had  been  made  "  bitter"  by  becoming  a  burden  to  her  unloving 
ciiildren ;  the  name  the  "arbitrators"  gave  her  befitting,  not 
because,  as  Naomi,  she  had  been  deprived  of  her  sons,  but 
because  they  had  been  continued  to  her.  God  save  us  all  from 
imloved,  and  so  dreary  old  age. 

Mr.  Ford  appointed  executors  of  his  will,  his  wife  and  Capt. 
Thomas  Blakeslee.  His  body  was  buried  in  the  old  burying 
ground  in  Thomaston,  his  tombstone  bearing  the  following 
inscription  : 

"Here  Lyeth  ye  Body  of  Barnabas  Ford,  he  dyed  JMarch  ye 
loth  1746-7  in  ye  53d  year  of  his  age." 

Peace  be  to  his  ashes  I 

Captain  Thomas  Blakeslee,  next  in  consequence  to  the 
minister,  in  the  early  New  England  communities,  was  the  cap- 
tain of  the  "train  band,"  or  military  company  organized  in  each 
town.  Nor  was  this  office  a  merely  ornamental  one  in  those 
days.  In  a  frontier  settlement,  as  Northbury  was,  exposed  to 
attacks  of  Indians  from  Canada,  where  the  settlers  took  their 
guns  to  meeting  with  them  on  the  .Sabbath,  as  they  did  when 
they  met  for  a  time,  before  the  first  meeting  house  was  built,  in 
a  log  house  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  old  Deacon  Daniel  Potter 
place,  the  command  of  the  military  company  was  liable  to  be  a 
very  practical  matter,  and  they  chose  the  best  men  for  the  posi- 
tion, as  the  Plymouth,  Mass.,  colonists  chose  Miles  Standish. 

The  first  captain  of  Northbury,  as  his  tombstone  with  hon- 
orable pride  declares,  was  Thomas  Blakeslee,  He  was 
appointed  to  his  command  at  the  May  session  of  the  General 
Assembly  in  1740,  as  the  following  entry  in  the  Colonial 
Records  shows:  "This  assembly  do  establish  and  confirm  Mr. 
Thomas  Blachley  to  be  captain  of  the  third  company  or  train 
band  in  the  town  of  Waterbury,  and  order  that  he  be  commis- 
sioned accordingly."  The  company  was  organized  that  spring. 
At  the  same  session  of  the  assembly  John  Brunson  was  appointed 
to  be  the  lieutenant,  and  Daniel  Curtiss  the  ensign  in  the  same 
company,  which  newly  acquired  honors  are  immediately  recog- 
nized in  the  records  of  the  society,  in  which  these  gentlemen, 
who,  in  the  record  of  the  year  before  are  mentioned  under  their 
plain  names,  in  the  record  next  following,  that  of  August, 
1740,  have  their  militarv  titles  given  them.  The  first  "train 
band"  of  the  town  was  at  the  center;  the  second  in  Westbury, 
now  Watertown.  It  will  be  observed  that  in  the  captain's  com- 
mission his  name  is  spelled  "  Blachley." 


88  HISTORY    OF    PLVMOUTH. 

Capt,  Blakeslee  was  burn  in  North  Haven,  then  a  part  ot" 
New  Haven,  in  the  year  1700.  From  North  Haven  he  went 
first  to  Sunderhind,  Alass.,  on  the  Connecticut  river  above  Had- 
ley,  where  likely  he  married  his  wife  Mary  Scott,  the  daughter 
of  Richard  Scott  of  that  town,  and  sister  of  Lydia,  the  second 
wife  of  Isaac  Castle.  They  had  nine  children,  four  born  before 
coming  to  Northbury  in  1731.  David,  born  November  2,  1723; 
Reuben,  March  9,  1724;  Moses,  June  30,  1727  ;  Mary,  Septem- 
ber 7,  1729;  and  five  born  here  :  Submit,  in  1731  ;  Experience, 
January  3,  1735;  Lydia  in  1737:  Esther  in  1839;  and  Abigail 
in  1 741.  They  came  from  Sunderland  on  horseback,  the  hus- 
band with  two  of  the  children  on  one  horse,  and  the  wife  with 
the  other  two  on  another.  Capt.  Blakeslee  was  by  occupation  a 
farmer,  owning  land  on  both  sides  of  the  Naugatuck  river,  a& 
appears  from  his  will.  His  house,  doubtless  ot  logs,  stood 
where  the  old  Castel  house  now  stands  in  Thomaston,  on  Centre 
street.  There  is  a  tradition  that  it  was  surrounded  with  pali- 
sades, as  a  refuge  for  the  settlers  in  case  of  an  Indian  attack. 
His  name  appears,  in  his  own  signature,  in  the  earliest  public 
document,  the  petition  of  September  29,  1736,  of  the  "up  river 
inhabitants"  to  the  town  for  winter  privileges;  that  is,  the  privi- 
lege of  hiring  a  minister  for  the  three  winter  months  with 
exemption  from  paying  taxes  to  the  town  for  that  period.  In 
this  petition  his  name,  which  heads  the  list  of  petitioners,  is 
spelled  "  Blasle,"  as  it  is  in  the  early  society  records.  At  the 
first  meeting  of  the  societv  of  Northbury,  that  in  which  the 
society  was  organized,  "  Mr.  Thomas  Blasle,"  not  yet  captain, 
was  appointed  with  Joseph  Clark,  John  How,  John  Brunson 
and  Gideon  Allen,  "committee  for  Mr.  Samuel  Todd's  House,"' 
the  house  which  the  society  agreed,  as  a  part  of  his  "  settlement" 
to  build  for  their  first  pastor. 

On  the  reorganization  of  the  society,  after  the  break  up  on 
the  question  of  a  meeting  house,  of  which  account  will  be  given 
when  we  go  on  with  the  history  of  the  societv,  Capt.  Blakeslee 
was  chosen  at  the  annual  meeting,  in  December,  1742,  one  of 
the  "prudential"  or  society's  committee,  which  shows  that  at 
that  time  he  still  adhered  to  the  Congregational  societv,  though 
it  had  been  turned  out  of  the  public  building  by  the  majority  of 
the  proprietors,  who  had  "declared  for  the  church  of  England," 
one  of  which  proprietors  Capt.  Blakeslee  was.  and  one  of  the 
remonstrants  to  the  legislature  against  the  building  of  a  new 
meeting  house,  a  circumstance  we  should  bear  in  mind  when  we 
come  to  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Abram,  the  brother  of  Capt.  Thomas,  had  six  children, 
John,  Zopher,  Abram.  Jude,  Stephen  and  Joel,  the  youngest  of 
whom  died  in  North  Haven  some  fifty  years  ago. 

.    Of  Capt.  Thomas'  children,  the  oldest,  David,  who  was  a 

captain  after  his  father,  married  Abigail and  lived  on  his 

father's  place,  where  lie  kept  tavern.  He  had  six  children, 
Adna,  Eli,  Asa,  David,  Phoebe  and  another  daughter.  Adna, 
who  attained  to  the  distinction  of  major,  married  Hannah 
Graves  and  lived  on  the  old  Blakeslee  place  below  the  case  shop. 


SOME    OF     1I1I-:     IMO.NHEKS.  S(/ 

He  was  the  fatlier  of"  Jiiiuus,  who  married  Abigail  Cooper  and 
had  ten  children,  three  of  whom  are  Abraham,  William  and 
Atleline,  wife  of  Israel  Woodward,  Esq. 

Phffibe  married  Jesse  Fenn  who  lived  where  Burr's  store 
now  stands  He  was  one  of  twelve  children  of  Thomas  Fenn, 
who  lived,  all  of  them,  to  be  over  fifty  years  of  age,  one  of  whom 
was  Jason,  father  of  the  late  Elam  Fenn  of  Town  Hill. 

Experience,  daughter  of  Capt.  Thomas,  married  her  cousin 
Jude,  known  as  Ensign  Jude,  his  commission  being  still  in  exist- 
ence, in  the  possession  of  his  descendant  B.  B.  Satterlee.  He 
lived  on  the  old  Blakeslee  place,  next  south  of  T.  J.  J^radstreel's. 
He  was  a  tanner,  his  tannerv  being  in  the  fork  of  the  roads 
opposite  his  hoi:se,  on  Twitch  Grass  Brook.  He  had  ten  chil- 
dren, Abi,  Pollv,  Bela,  Hannah,  A'Jicah,  Esthei",  Betty,  Bertha, 
Levee,  and  Levi. 

Abi  married  Jesse  Humaston,  son  of  Caleb,  and  their 
daughter  Sidna  married  Sherman  Pierpont,  father  of  the  late 
George  Pierpont  of  Plymouth  Centre. 

Bela  married  Olive  Brown,  and  lived  on  the  ground  where 
Mrs.  Edward  Thomas  now  lives.  He  acted  for  many  years  as 
lay  reader  in  St.  Peter's  ;  being  called  "  Deacon  Bela."  He  had 
ten  children,  the  legulation  number  in  the  Blakeslee  family  in 
tiiose  davs,  one  of  whom,  Clara,  married  John  Satterlee,  who 
had  six  children,  foiu'  of  them  living  to  mature  age;  Merrit  L., 
who  emigrated  to  Chicago  fifty-two  years  ago,  when  that  citv 
was  scarcely  more  than  a  village,  and  who  has  witnessed  and 
lived  through  the  wonderful  changes  since,  residing  there  still  in 
blind  old  age;  Alfred  B. ,  who  studied  for  the  ministry,  graduat- 
ing first  at  Brown  University  and  then  from  the  Baptist  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.  He  went  in  1S54  to 
India  as  a  missionary,  where  he  died  of  Asiatic  cholera.  His 
widow  died  on  her  passage  home,  leaving  a  daughter,  who  now 
resides  in  Cleveland,  O.  The  third  brother  is  our  honored 
townsman,  Bela  Blakeslee  Satterlee,  well  known  for  his  anti- 
quarian tastes  and  researches,  and  to  whom  the  town  is  so  greatly 
indebted  for  his  interest  and  labor  in  searching  out,  collecting 
and  pieserving  the  materials  of  its  history,  without  which  these 
sketches,  or  any  worthv  record  of  its  past,  could  not  have  been 
written.  More  than  all  others  Mr.  Satterlee  is  the  connecting 
link  between  the  primitive  period  and  the  present  of  the  history 
of  Plymouth,  and  the  town  should  appreciate  and  recognize  its 
obligations  to  him  in  this  respect. 

Micah,  son  of  Jude,  married  Rhoda  Hopkins  and  had  ten 
children.  He  lived  near  his  father  Jude's  place.  He  attained 
to  the  military  rank  of  Colonel,  I^.  B.  Satterlee  having  in  his 
possession  his  several  commissions  up  to  that  grade.  He  had  a 
daughter  Philena,  who  married  Randall  T.  Andrews,  the  father 
of  the  present  Randall  T.  Andrews;  also  a  son  Marvin,  who 
was  the  father  of  Stephen  Burritt,  who  was  the  father  of  Augus- 
tus, the  present  postmaster  in  Thomaston  ;  also  a  son  Edward, 
the  father  of  Lvman  W.  Blakeslee  ;  also  a  daugjhter  named  from 
her  mother,  Rhoda  Hopkins,  the  wife  of  John  Bradley.     Edward 


90  HISTOUV    OP'    PLYMOUTH. 

and  Marvin  built  the  houses  in  which  T.  J.  Bradstreet  and  Dr. 
Woodruff  now  live.  Edward  was  the  selectman  under  whose 
supervision  the  covered  bridge  in  Thomaston  was  built  in  1S36. 
Hannah,  daughter  of  Jude,  married  Nathaniel  Marsh,  whose  son 
Levi  was  the  father  of  Riley  Marsh,  Mrs.  Edward  Thomas  and 
Mrs.  Noah  Norton. 

Abigail,  daughter  of  Capt.  Thomas,  married  Jacob  Potter, 
whose  youngest  son  Demas  was  drowned  in  Todd  Hollow  pond. 
Their  oldest  son  Zenas,  married  Betty  Blakeslee,  and  their 
■oldest  son  Sherman,  married  Polly  Luddington,  granddaughter 
of  David  Luddington,  whose  father  gave  him  the  farm  on  which 
the  Potter  brothers  now  live,  who  with  Mrs.  Geo  Gordon,  are 
•children  of  Sherman  and  Polly  Luddington  Potter. 

David  Luddington  was  a  famous  marksman.  He  shot  the 
last  deer  killed  in  Plymouth  on  the  meadow  under  the  Spruces, 
"firing  across  the  river,  and  the  deer  not  falling  at  the  first  shot, 
firing  again,  when  he  foimd  on  reaching  the  deer,  that  both 
bullets  had  gone  through  him. 

Moses  Luddington,  David's  father,  went  from  Wallingford, 
first  to  Goshen,  where  the  inhabitants  all  slept  in  the  fort  at 
night  from  fear  of  Indians,  and  worked  together  during  the  day, 
taking  the  work  on  the  several  farms  in  turn,  and  from  Goshen 
came  here.  He  was  a  surgeon  in  the  French  and  Lidian  war, 
and  was  killed  near  Lake  George.  He  was  crawling  along  on 
his  hands  and  knees,  carrying  bullets  to  the  men  in  the  fight, 
when  a  bullet  hit  him,  as  his  leg  was  doubled  under,  and  went 
through  both  above  and  below  the  knee.  The  powder  horn  he 
carried  is  now  in  the  po'ssession  of  the  Potter  brothers,  as  is  also 
David's  gun.  With  this  he  sliot  several  bears,  one  on  a  tree 
Just  opposite  the  Potter  brothers'  house,  on  what  was  the  old 
Dr.  Weed  place.  David  was  such  an  unerring  shot  that  he  was 
not  allowed  to  shoot  in  turkey  shoots  of  the  day. 

Aaron,  brother  of  David,  accompanied  his  father  to  the  war, 
i^nd  returned.  He  shot  the  last  bear  killed  in  Plymouth,  in 
Todd  Hollow.  He  afterwards  moved  to  Norfolk,  where  he  died 
at  an  advanced  age. 

Capt.  Blakeslee  died  in  177S,  and  was  buried  in  the  old 
graveyard  in  Thomaston,  his  tombstone  bearing  the  following 
inscription  : 

"  In  memory  of  Mr.  Thomas  Blakslee,  the  first  captain  in 
Northbury  who  died  with  the  gravil  June  ye  5  A.  D.  177S  in  the 
7Sth  year  of  his  age. 

Those  days  which  to  the  dead  were  lent, 
To  serve  God  and  man  he  freely  spent. 
Hut  when  his  judge  for  him  did  call 
With  patience  bid  farewell  to  all." 

The  gravestone  of  his  son  David  bears  the  following 
inscription  : 

"  In  meiuorv  of  Capt  David  Blakslee  who  died  with  the 
stone  Feb.  nth  A.  D.  17S1  in  the  59  year  of  his  age. 


SOME    OF     11  IK     I'lO.NKKUS.  9 1 

Worn  out  with  jxiin, 
He  resigned  liis  breaiii; 
Trusting  with  Christ 
I  lis  soul  will  rest." 

Capt.  Thomas'  wife  was  an  equally  important  person  in  her 
department,  in  a  time  when  doctors  were  tew,  and  not  always  at 
hand,  as  the  following  inscription  on  her  tombstone,  also  in 
poetry,  testifies : 

"  In  memor\  of  Mrs.  Mary  Blakslee  relict  of  Capt  Thomas 
Blakslee  who  died  with  a  fit  of  the  apoplexy,  Oct.  ye  4th  A.  I). 
1 78 1  in  the  79th  year  of  her  age. 

Forty-two  years  of  her  fiail  life, 
She  served  in  olitice  of  midwife  ; 
Females  lament  that  she  is  gone. 
And  learn  to  do  as  she  hath  done." 

This  wife  of  Capt.  Thomas  was  the  woman  who,  in  the 
legend  of  Bronson  in  his  history  of  VV'aterbury,  chanced  to  have 
the  prayer  book,  the  discovery  of  which  was  the  origin  of  Epis- 
copacy in  Northbur\-,  a  pretty  myth  which  disappears  before  the 
recovered  documents  of  the  time. 

Capt.  Thomas  left  a  will  which  is  recorded  in  the  probate 
ofKce  in  Woodbury,  to  which  district  Waterbiiiy  at  that  time 
belonged.      It  bears  date  of  July  21,  1766. 

In  the  \Vaterl)iirv  list  of  1737,  Capt.  Blackslee's  estate  is 
entered  ^64  i6s,  being  the  sixth  in  point  of  size  of  the  settlers 
of  that  time,  Ebenezer  Richason  being  entered  at  ^,95,  John 
Sutlid",  Sr.  at  £91.  Samuel  Towner  at  ^^88,  Gideon  Allen  at 
^.74,  and  Jeremiah  Peck  at  ^,69. 

vSuch  is  tile  record  of  an  honest  sturdy  man,  of  their  descent 
from  whom  his  posterity  have  no  reason  to  be  ashamed. 


CHAPTER     VI. 


KE^'OI.UTIO^•AKY    TIMES 


The  History  More  or  Less  Uncertain— Hot-Bed  of  Toryism—Northbury  the  Home 
of  the  Only  Tory  Known  to  Have  Been  Executed  in  Connecticut— Last 
Pensioner  of  the  War  Born  in  This  Parish,  With  a  Sketch  of  His  Life  and 
Enlistment. 

THE  part  that  the  inhabitants  of  Northbuiy  parish  took  in 
tlie  revolutionary  war  at  this  late  day  can  only  be  told  in  a 
fragmentary  way.  The  town  records  of  VV^aterbury  and  Water- 
town,  of  which  this  parish  was  a  part,  during  the  stormy  days 
when  the  struggle  for  independence  was  going  on,  aflbrd  but 
little  information,  while  the  official  papers  of  the  State  leave  the 
subject  a  matter  of  more  or  less  uncertainty  and  conjecture.  It 
is  known  that  the  parish  was  a  stronghold  of  toryism,  a  majority 
of  the  leading  men  west  of  the  river  holding  fast  to  their  British 
allegiance.  Bitter  enmities  were  engendered  and  violent  acts 
were  committed.  The  disgraceful  doings  of  the  north  military 
company  or  trainband  led  to  its  dissolution  by  the  General 
Assembly,  its  members  being  added  to  the  Farmingbury  and 
Westbury  companies  and  to  Captain  Nathaniel  Barnes'  companv 
in  the  same  parish.  These  tories,  however,  should  be  judged 
leniently,  for  they  were  connected  by  ties  of  religious  association 
and  support  with  the  mother  country,  and  their  pastors,  sincere 
men,  taught  them  that  the  colonial  cause  was  treason  against 
government  and  God.  While  all  the  action  against  the  tories 
was  not  justifiable,  it  was  not  to  be  wondered  at  as  human 
nature  is  constituted.  A  tory  was  hung  up  almost  dead  on  the 
green,  and  a  hook  was  shown  in  an  old  tavern  which  stood  near 
tlie  Andrew  Buel  place,  where  others  were  so  hung.  Devil's 
Lane  was  near  that  tavern,  and  County  Sherifl'Lord  of  Litchfield 
afterwards  made  arrests  there,  so  that  thev  said  "the  Lord  came 
down  from  Litchfield  and  took  the  devil  out  of  Plvmouth,'' 
though  he  soon  returned.  The  only  tory  known  to  have  been 
executed  in  Connecticut  was  Moses  Dunbar,  who  was  taken 
from  Plymouth,  tried  in  Hartford  for  high  treason  and  hung 
from  a  tree  near  where  Trinity  College  now  stands,  on  March 
19,  1777*  Dunbar  was  a  voung  man,  barely  over  thirty  years  of 
age,  honest  in  his  convictions,  and  was  probably  a  victim  of  a 
law  that  unnecessarily  deprived  him  of  his  life,  as  the  death 
penalty    against    treason    was    soon  afterwards    repealed.        He 


UKVOI.UTIOMAKV    TIMES. 


93 


otVercd  to  confine  hiinselt'  to  liis  t'arm  it'  allowed  his  liberty  and 
hold  no  intercourse  whatever  with  his  neighbors.  His  family 
were  highly  incensed  against  him  because  of  his  joining  the 
Episcopal  church  and  later  espousing  toryism.  So  indignant 
was  his  father  that  he  oHered  to  furnish  the  hemp  foi-  a  halter  to 
hang  him  with. 

The  only  records  indicative  of  the  revolution  was  a  vote 
December  7,  1778,  in  consideration  of  provision  running  to  an 
extravagant  price,  to  furnisli  Mr.  Storrs  certain  articles  at  speci- 
fied prices.  In  1774,  when  Congress  resolved  on  non-intercouise 
with  Great  Britain,  Phineas  Royce  was  moderator  of  a  special 
town  meeting  in  Waterbury,  a  mark  of  his  prominence.  At 
that  meeting  Nathaniel  Barnes,  Dr.  Roger  Conant,  and  Jotham 
Curtis,  of  Northbury,  were  on  the  committee  to  see  that  no  tea, 
molasses,  sugar,  coti'ee,  spices,  etc.,  were  brought  into  town  and 
sold.  At  another  meeting  held  January  12th,  Stephen  Seymour, 
Randal  Evans,  and  David  Smith,  of  Northbury,  were  on  a  com- 
mittee to  receive  donations  contributed  for  the  relief  of  the  poor 
in  Boston,  whose  port  was  then  closed  by  the  British  fleet. 
Northbury  sent  Deacon  Camp,  father  of  Deacon  Camp,  lately  of 
Plainville,  through  the  wilderness  of  Maine  with  Arnold,  to 
besiege  (Quebec  in  the  winter  of  177^-  Daniel  Rowe.  grand- 
father of  A.  ?vlarkham  on  his  mother's  side,  was  at  the  battle  of 
Saratoga  and  was  the  first  to  leach  Benedict  Arnold  after  he  was 
wounded  and  rendered  efficient  aid. 

David  Smith,  who  lived  where  the  Qiiiet  House  now  stands, 
attained  the  rank  of  major,  and  subsequently  became  general  of 
the  Connecticut  militia.  He  was  in  General  VVooster's  regiment 
which  took  part  in  the  operations  along  Lake  George  and 
Champlain.  He  was  at  the  battle  of  Germantown,  October  4, 
1777,  and  wintered  at  Valley  Forge  in  1777-78,  and  was  there 
appointed  brigadier  major  to  General  Varnum's  brigade  by 
general  orders  March  29,  1778.  He  was  a  prominent  man  at 
the  time  of  the  incorporation  of  Plvmouth,  having  been  sent  to 
the  legislature  as  a  representative  from  Watertown  for  several 
terms.  He  was  a  merchant  and  his  store  was  located  in  the  rear 
of  the  present  town  building  in  Plymouth.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 

Captains  Jotham  Curtis  and  Nathaniel  Barnes  received  ^6 
and  ^,16  respectiveh'  as  bounties  at  Fishkill  in  October,  1777, 
by  Lieutenant-Colonel  J.  Baldwin,  for  taking  their  companies  to 
the  aid  of  the  Continental  army  on  the  North  river.  They  also 
turned  out  to  repel  Tryon's  invasion  at  New  Haven,  July  5, 
1779.  Captain  Curtis'  company  was  composed  as  follows: 
Lieutenant,  Timothy  Pond  ;  ensign,  Samuel  Scoville;  privates, 
Andrew  Storrs,  Phineas  Royce,  Stephen  Curtis,  Randal  Evans, 
Samuel  Curtis,  Benjamin  Upson,  Samuel  Penfield,  Charles 
Cook,  Ebenezer  Cook,  John  Dunbar,  Aaron  Dunbar,  Joel  San- 
ford.  Jason  Fenn,  Ithiel  Fancher,  Joel  Fancher,  David  Foot, 
David  Humnston,  John  SutMft',  Samuel  Griggs,  Zachariah 
Hitchcock,  James  Curtis.  Eliakim  Potter.  Bartholomew  Pond, 
Hezekiah  Tuttle,  Parker,  William  Southmavd. 


94 


IIISIOKV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Lemuel  Cook, 
Last  Pensioner  of  the  Revolutionarv  War. 


KH\OI.lf  I  lONAKV     IIMES.  95, 

In  the  successful  campaio;n  in  the  French  war,  wlien  down 
Pouit  and  Ticonderoga  were  taken,  W  aterbury  furnished  a  com- 
pany in  which  John  Sutliff  was  lieutenant;  in  that  war  Daniel 
Porter  was  ensign,  and  Asher  Blakeslee,  Enos  Ford,  and  others 
were  engaged. 

The  oldest  survivor  of  the  Revolution  and  the  last  pensioner 
of  that  war  was  born  in  Northbur\  parish  in  1764.  His  name 
was  Lemuel  Cook  and  he  was  a  son  of  Henry  Cook,  the  lirst 
settler  of  the  town.  He  enlisted  at  Cheshire  when  only  sixteen 
years  old.  He  was  mustered  in  "at  Northampton,  in  the  Bay 
vState  2d  Regiment,  Light  Dragoons;  Sheldon,  Col.,  Stanton, 
Capt."  He  married  Hannah  Curtis  at  Cheshire,  by  whom  he 
had  eleven  children.  He  married  a  second  time  at  the  ao-e  of 
seventy.  About  thirty  years  previous  to  his  death  he  removed 
to  the  town  of  Clarendon  (near  Rochester),  Orleans  Countv, 
New  York.  He  died  there  May  20,  1866,  aged  102  years.  The 
late  Rev.  E.  B.  Hillard  visited  Mr.  Cook  in  July,  1864,  ^"^^  ^^^^ 
latter  related  the  circumstances  of  his  enlistment  and  early 
services  as  follows  : 

"  When  I  applied  to  enlist.  Captain  Hallibud  told  me  I  was 
so  small  he  couldn't  take  me  unless  I  would  enlist  for  the  war. 
The  first  time  I  smelt  gunpowder  was  at  \'alentine's  Hill  (West 
Chester,  New  York).  A  troop  of  British  horse  were  coming. 
'Mount  your  horses  in  a  minute,'  cried  the  colonel.  I  was  on 
mine  as  quick  as  a  squirrel.  There  were  two  fires — crash! 
LTp  came  Darrow,  good  old  soul !  and  said,  '  Lem,  what  do  vou 
think  of  gunpowder  .-^     Smell  good  to  you  .^ ' 

"The  first  time  I  was  ordered  on  sentry  was  at  Dobbs' 
Ferry.  A  man  came  out  of  a  barn  and  leveled  his  piece  and 
fired.  I  felt  the  wind  of  the  ball.  A  soldier  near  me  said, 
'  Lem,  they  mean  you  ;  go  on  the  other  side  of  the  road.'  So  I 
w^ent  over  ;  and  pretty  soon  another  man  came  out  of  the  barn 
and  aimed  and  fired.  He  didn't  come  near  me.  Soon  another 
came  out  and  fired.  His  ball  lodged  in  my  hat.  By  this  time 
the  firing  had  roused  the  camp  ;  and  a  company  of  our  troops 
came  on  one  side,  and  a  party  of  the  French  on  the  other  ;  and 
they  took  the  men  in  the  barn  prisoners,  and  brought  them  in. 
They  were  Cow  Boys.  This  was  the  first  time  I  saw  the  French 
in  operation.  They  stepped  as  though  on  edge.  They  were  a 
dreadful  proud  nation.  When  thev  brought  the  men  in,  one  of 
them  had  the  impudence  to  ask,  '  Is  the  man  here  we  fired  at 
just  now.''  '  Yes,'  said  Major  Tallmadge,  'theie  he  is,  that 
boy.'  Then  he  told  how  they  had  each  laid  out  a  crown,  and 
agreed  that  the  one  who  brought  me  down  should  have  the  three. 
When  he  got  through  with  his  story,  I  stepped  to  my  holster 
and  took  out  my  pistol,  and  walked  up  to  him  and  said,  '  If  I've 
been  a  ma'k  to  you  for  monev,  I'll  take  mv  turn  now\  So, 
deliver  your  money,  or  your  life  I  '  He  handed  over  four  crowns, 
and  I  got  three  more  from  the  other  two." 

Mr.  Cook  was  at  the  battle  of  Brandvwine  and  at  Cornwaliis' 
surrender.      Of  the  latter  he  gives  the  follow'ing  account : 

"  It   was  reported    Washington   was    going  to   storm    New 


<)6  illSKJUV    OK    PLYMOUTH. 

York.  We  had  made  a  by-law  in  our  regiment  that  every  man 
should  stick  to  his  horse:  if  his  horse  went,  he  should  go  with 
him.  I  was  waiter  for  the  quartermaster  ;  and  so  had  a  chance 
to  keep  my  horse  in  good  condition.  Baron  Steuben  was 
mustermaster.  He  had  us  called  out  to  select  men  and  horses 
fit  for  service.  When  he  came  to  me,  he  said,  '  Young  man, 
how  old  are  you.'"  I  told  him.  'Be  on  the  ground  to-morrow 
morning  at  nine  o'clock,'  said  he.  My  colonel  didn't  like  to 
have  me  go.  'You'll  see,'  said  he,  'they'll  call  for  him  to- 
morrow morning.'  But  they  said  if  we  had  a  law,  we  must 
abide  by  it.  Next  morning,  old  Steuben  had  got  my  name. 
There  weie  eighteen  out  of  the  regiment.  '  Be  on  the  ground,' 
said  he,  '  to-morrow  morning  with  two  days'  provisions.' 
*■  You're  a  fool,'  said  the  rest ;  '  they're  going  to  storm  New 
York.'  No  more  idea  of  it  than  of  going  to  Flanders.  My 
horse  was  a  bay,  and  pretty.  Next  morning  I  was  the  second 
on  parade.  We  marched  oti"  towards  White  Plains.  Then  '  left 
wheel,'  and  struck  right  north.  Got  to  King's  Ferry,  below 
Tarrytown.  There  were  boats,  scows,  etc.  We  went  right 
across  into  the  Jerseys  That  night  I  stood  with  my  back  to  a 
tree.  Then  we  went  on  to  the  head  of  Elk.  There  the  French 
were.  It  was  dusty  ;  'peared  to  me  I  should  have  choked  to 
death.  One  of  'em  handed  me  his  canteen  ;  '  Lem,'  said  he, 
'  take  a  good  horn — we're  going  to  march  all  night.'  I  didn't 
know  what  it  was,  so  I  took  a  full  drink.  It  liked  to  have 
strangled  me.  Then  we  were  in  Virginia.  There  wasn't  much 
fighting.  Cornwallis  tried  to  force  his  way  north  to  New  York  ; 
but  fell  into  the  arms  of  La  Fayette,  and  he  drove  him  back. 
Old  Rochambeau  told  'em,  'I'll  land  five  hundred  from  the  fleet, 
against  your  eight  hundred.'  But  they  darsn't.  We  were  on  a 
kind  of  side  hill.  We  had  plaguey  little  to  eat  and  nothing  to 
drink  under  heaven.  We  hove  up  some  brush  to  keep  the  flies 
off.  Washington  ordered  that  there  should  be  no  laughing  at 
the  British  ;  said  it  was  bad  enough  to  have  to  surrender  without 
being  insulted.  The  army  came  out  with  guns  clubbed  on  their 
backs.  They  were  paraded  on  a  great  smooth  lot,  and  there 
they  stacked  their  arms.  Then  came  the  devil — old  women,  and 
all  (camp  followers).  One  said,  'I  wonder  if  the  d — d  Yankees 
will  give  me  any  bread.'  The  horses  were  starved  out.  Wash- 
ington turned  out  with  his  horses  and  helped  'em  up  the  hill. 
When  they  see  the  artillery,  they  said,  '  There,  them's  the  very 
artillery  that  belonged  to  Burgoyne.'  Greene  come  from  the 
southard  ;  the  awfullest  set  you  ever  see.  Some,  I  should  pre- 
sume, had  a  pint  of  lice  on  'em.     No  boots  nor  shoes." 

Mr.  Cook's  condition,  Mr.  Hillard  described  as  follows: 
"  The  old  man's  talk  is  very  broken  and  fragmentary.  He 
recalls  the  past  slowly,  and  with  difficulty  ;  but  when  he  has 
fixed  his  mind  upon  it,  all  seems  to  come  up  clear.  His  articu- 
lation, also,  is  very  imperfect;  so  that  it  is  with  difficulty  tliat 
his  story  can  be  made  out.  Much  of  his  experience  in  the  war 
seems  gone  from  him  ;  and  in  conversation  with  him  he  has  to 
be  left  to  the  course  of  his  own  thoughts,  inquiries  and  sugges- 


HEVOI.iriONAKV     TIME-S.  97 

tions  appealing  to  confuse  him.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  he 
married  Hannah  Curtis,  of  Cheshire,  Connecticut,  and  lived  a 
while  in  that  vicinity  ;  after  which  he  removed  to  Utica,  New- 
York.  There  he  had  frequent  encounters  with  the  Indians  who 
still  infested  the  region.  One  with  whom  he  had  some  difficulty 
about  cattle,  at  one  time  assailed  him  at  a  public  house,  as  he 
was  on  his  way  home,  coming  at  him  with  great  lury,  with  a 
drawn  knife.  Mr.  Cook  was  unarmed  ;  but  catching  up  a  chair 
he  presented  it  as  a  shield  against  the  Indian's  thrusts,  till  help 
appeared.  He  says  he  never  knew  what  fear  was,  and  always 
declared  that  no  man  should  take  him  prisoner  alive.  His  frame 
is  large,  his  presence  commanding;  and  in  his  prime  he  must 
have  possessed  prodigious  strength.  He  has  evidently  been  a 
man  of  most  resolute  spirit;  the  old  determination  still  manifest- 
ing itself  in  his  look  and  words.  His  voice,  the  full  power  of 
which  he  still  retains,  is  marvellous  for  its  volume  and  strength. 
Speaking  of  the  present  war,  he  said,  in  his  strong  tones,  at  the 
same  time  bringing  down  his  cane  with  force  upon  the  floor, 
'  It  is  terrible  ;  but,  terrible  as  it  is,  Ike  rebellion  must  be  put  dcnuii ." 
He  still  walks  comfortably  with  the  help  of  a  cane;  and  with  the 
aid  of  glasses  reads  his  'book,'  as  he  calls  the  Bible.  He  is  fond 
of  company,  loves  a  joke,  and  is  good-natured  in  a  rough  sort  ot 
way.  He  likes  to  relate  his  experiences  in  the  army  and  among 
the  Indians.  He  has  voted  the  Democratic  ticket  since  the 
organization  of  the  government,  supposing  that  it  still  represents 
the  same  party  that  it  did  in  Jefferson's  time.  His  pension, 
before  its  increase,  was  one  hundred  dollars.  It  is  now  two 
hundred  dollars.  The  old  man's  health  is  comfortably  good ; 
and  he  enjoys  life  as  much  as  could  be  expected  at  his  great  age. 
His  home,  at  present,  is  with  a  son,  whose  wife,  especially, 
seems  to  take  kind  and  tender  care  of  him.  Altogether,  he  is  a 
noble  old  man  ;  and  long  may  it  yet  be  before  his  name  shall  be 
missed  from  the  roll  of  his  countrv's  deliverers." 


98 


IIlSrOKY    OF    PI.YMOU'l}!. 


Gen.  Erast.is  B'akeslte. 


ciiArri:i<_     \ii 


111  1-;    c  i\  II,    \\  Ai;. 


There  Were  no  More  Loyal  or  Brave  Soldiers  Than  the  Sons  of  Plymouth,  Several 
of  Whom  Gained  Honorable  Distinction,  while  Others  Met  Untimely  Deaths 
at  the  Front  and  in  the  Very  Heat  of  Battle— Roster  of  Those  Enlisting  or 
Belonging  to  the  Town. 

IN  the  civil  war  Plymouth  may  well  be  pioud  of  her  recortl. 
Her  sons  were  scattered  in  nearly  every  Connecticut  regi- 
ment and  some  also  in  regiments  from  other  states.  Co.  D,  2d 
Connecticut  Heavy  Artillery,  had  fifty-three  local  men.  Co,  I, 
I  St  Connecticut  Heavy  Artillery,  was  principally  made  up  of 
Plymouth  men  and  many  more  were  in  the  Fiist  Cavalry,  C.  \'. 
From  the  beginning"  of  the  war  until  Lee  surrendered  these 
brave,  loyal  soldiers  w  ere  to  be  found  in  all  the  principal  con- 
flicts. In  several  instances  their  gallant  services  were  so  far 
recognized  as  to  receive  deserved  promotion.  The  three  princi- 
pal commanding  officers  of  the  ist  Connecticut  Cavalry  were 
identified  with  this  town,  viz..  Brevet  Brigadier  General  Erastus 
Blakeslee,  Major  L.  P.  Goodwin  (who  for  a  considerable  time^ 
commanded  as  ranking  officer),  and  Brevet  Brigadier  General 
Brayton  Ives,  who  belongs  to  one  of  the  oldest  families. 
Another  plucky  fighter  was  Colonel  Augustus  H.  Fenn,  now 
judge  of  the  Connecticut  Supreme  Court,  who  lost  his  right  arm 
at  the  battle  of  Cedar  Creek,  and  in  seven  weeks  reported  for 
duty.  Major  William  B.  Ells  commanded  the  3d  Battalion  at 
Cold  Harbor,  and  was  made  a  cripple  for  several  vears  by  a  shot 
wound  in  the  leg.  Lieutenants  Franklin  J.  Candee  and  Horace 
Hubbard  were  killed  at  the  Opequan  Creek  battle.  Thev 
belonged  to  the  2d  Artillery,  which  was  in  the  hottest  of  the 
fight.  Edward  P.  Smith,  of  Co.  I,  ist  Artillery,  was  the  first 
Plymouth  soldier  who  died  in  service,  and  his  funeral  was 
largely  attended  by  people  from  far  and  near,  his  remains  having 
been  sent  to  Terryville  embalmed. 

When  President  Lincoln  issued  a  call  for  300,000  more  men 
after  the  disastrous  Peninsula  campaign,  Litchfield  countv  voted 
to  raise  an  entire  regiment.  L.  W.  Wessells  was  made  Colonel 
a  .d  the  regiment  went  into  camp  at  Litchfield  August  21,  1862. 
Plymouth  united  with  W^atertown  to  raise  a  company,  the 
recruiting  officers  being  A.    H.   Fenn,   W.    H.    Lewis,    Jr.,  and 


lOO 


HISTORY    OF     I'LN  MOUTH. 


Capt.   Eugene  Atwaier. 


rilK    Cl\  IL    WAK.  lOI 

Robert  A.  Potter.  Pl\  iiioutli  furni.shed  Htty-tlirce  men,  Wiiter- 
town  eighteen,  ami  llarwinton  thirteen.  V\  m.  B.  Ells,  then  2cl 
Lieutenant  ot"  the  ibt  Connecticut  xVrtillery  stationed  at  Fort 
Richardson,  was  chosen  Captain,  W.  H.  Lewis,  Jr.,  ist  Lieu- 
tenant, and  Robert  A.  Potter,  2d  Lieutenant.  I'he  regiment 
was  the  19th  C.  \'.  It  was  presented  with  a  beautiful  stand  of 
colors  by  Mrs.  William  Curtis  Noyes,  of  Litchfield,  and  on  the 
nth  ol"  September  was  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United 
States  for  three  years.  The  battalion,  consisting  of  S89  men  and 
otiicers,  left  on  the  15th  for  Washington.  It  moved  on  to  i\lex- 
andria  where  it  remained  until  the  middle  of  January  following. 
It  was  while  at  this  point  that  Arthur  G.  Kellogg  of  Co.  C, 
died  on  the  loth  of  November,  1S63.  His  was  the  third  death 
that  occurred  in  the  regiment.  The  health  of  the  soldiers  con- 
tinued to  grow  worse,  and  as  there  were  reports  of  neglect  and 
harsh  treatment  of  the  sick.  Governor  Buckingham  sent  Dr.  S.  T. 
Salisbury  of  Plymouth,  to  investigate,  who  reported  that  ever\  - 
thing  was  being  done  that  was  possible  for  the  men. 

The  regiment  was  removed  to  Washington  to  do  defence 
dutv,  and  in  the  fall  was  changed  into  an  artillery  regiment, 
recruiting  its  number  to  i.Soo  men  by  the  following  March. 
Up  to  this  period  the  following  Plymouth  men  had  died  : 

Burritt  H.  Tolles,  January  12,  1863,  fever,  buried  in  Terr}- 
ville  ;  Charles  J.  Cleveland,  January  30,  1S63,  fever,  buried  in 
Terryville ;  George  H.  Holt,  February  26,  1863,  diphtheria, 
buried  in  Terryville;  Franklin  W.  Hubbard,  April  10,  1863, 
typhoid  fever,  buried  in  Terryville ;  Josiah  J.  Wadsworth,  Sep- 
tember 19,  1863,  spotted  fever,  buried  in  Hartford;  Corporal 
Wesley  F.  Glover,  December  28,  1862,  typhoid  fever,  buried  in 
Woodville;  George  A.  Hoyt,  fifer,  June  6,  1863.  fever,  buried 
in  Plymouth;  Eben  Norton,  June  t2,  1864,  fever,  buried  in 
Plymouth. 

On  the  20th  of  May,  1S64,  the  regiment  joined  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  near  the  Spottsylvania  Court  House  and  w'ere 
assigned  to  duty  in  the  2d  Brigade,  ist  Division,  6th  Corps. 
The  2 ist  of  May  the  enemv  was  met  and  a  series  of  marches 
were  begun  which  cidminated  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  i,  1864. 
In  this  engagement  the  regiment  had  114  killed,  197  wounded, 
15  missing  and  3  died  in  prison.  The  rebels  plied  the  position 
with  musketry  and  swept  it  with  grape  and  canister.  Alajor 
Ells  was  wounded  almost  by  the  first  fire.  Colonel  Kellogg, 
proud  of  his  men.  was  in  advance  of  the  foremost  line,  his 
towering  and  conspicuous  form  making  him  a  target,  and  he  too 
fell  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  fight  pierced  by  a  dozen  bullets. 

The  Plymouth  compan}-  was  in  the  third  and  rear  battalion 
and  suftered  less  severelv  than  some  of  the  other  companies,  the 
casualties  resulting  as  follows  : 

Killed — Philo  A.  Fenn,  shot  in  the  head  by  sharpshooters, 
June  12,  while  on  duty  as  sharpshooter;  John  Tvlurphy,  shot  in 
heart;  George  Comstock,  real  name  George  Brooks,  Petersburg, 
June  22. 

Died  of  Wounds —George  L.   Beach,   Cold   Harbor,   thigh, 


I02 


HISTOKV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


ReJiiubt   B,   Near  Fort  Alexandria,  Va. 


Officers,  SecoiiJ  Conn.   Heavs    Ai  tiller 


'11  IK   (_i\  II.   wAi;. 


103 


died  at  Washington,  June  14,  1S64,  was  hit  by  bullet  which  was 
afterwards  taken  out  and  put  on  his  coHin  at  funeral;  Tliomas 
Mann,  calf  of  leg,  died  at  Wasliington,  June  S. 

Wounded  —  Qiiartermaster-.Sergeant  David  B.  Wooster, 
thigh,  slight,  afterwards  killed  at  Fisher's  Hill;  Justin  O. 
Stoughton,  shoulder  and  back ;  Chauncey  Culver,  side  and 
breast,  severe;  Wallace  E.  Beach,  arm;  George  T.  Cook, 
shoulder;  Zelotes  F.  Grannis,  head;  Major  Wni.  B.  Ells,  leg, 
severe. 

Corporal  James  R.  Baldwin,  of  Co.  E,  from  Winsted,  who 
for  some  time  pre\ious  to  his  enlistment  had  resided  in  Plymoutli, 
and  was  a  brother  of  the  late  N.  Taylor  Baldwin,  was  missing  in 
this  engagement  and  is  believed  to  have  died  in  a  rebel  prison. 

On  the  20th  of  June  the  regiment  was  in  the  trenches  in 
front  of  Petersburg.  Here  Matthias  Walter,  of  Plymouth,  was 
wounded  by  a  sharpshooter  and  John  Grieder  was  fatallv 
wounded  by  a  piece  from  a  three  inch  shell. 

On  the  32d  of  June  there  was  a  skirmish  with  Hill's  rebel 
division.  Corporal  Charles  E.  Guernsey  was  wounded  in  the 
shoulder  and  thigh  and  died  on  the  2Sth.  It  is  supposed  he  was 
shot  by  the  carelessness  of  one  of  his  own  comrades.  George  B. 
Hempstead,  of  Co.  B,  a  former  clerk  in  the  store  of  B.  H.  Hem- 
ingway, in  Terryville,  was  shot  in  the  right  breast,  the  ball 
lodging  in  his  watch.     He  also  died  on  the  2Sth. 

The  next  engagement  was  the  bloody  battle  of  the  Opequan. 
Here  Hiram  T.  Coley  was  killed,  as  was  1st  Lieutenant  Franklin 
J.  Candee,  who  while  lying  on  the  ground  raised  his  head  to 
look  at  his  watch,  and  was  picked  of!" by  a  sharpshooter.  Second 
Lieutenant  Horace  Hubbard  had  his  back  fearfully  torn  bv  a 
shell  and  lived  but  a  short  time. 

The  wounded  were  Corporal  Henry  N.  Bushnell,  neck, 
severe;  Corporal  David  A.  IBradley,  neck;  William  Lindley, 
finger;  Henry  Tolles,  head;  Corporal  Ira  H.  vStoughton,  hip, 
canister;  Emery  B.  Taylor,  thigh  ;  Seeley  Morse,  thigh  ;  George 
H.  Bates,  side  and  back,  shell,  severe. 

The  next  battle  was  on  the  22d  at  Fisher's  Hill.  Qiiarter- 
master  David  B.  Wooster  was  killed,  and  Charles  L.  Brvan  and 
Swift  McG.  Hunter  were  slightly  wounded. 

Then  the  memorable  battle  of  Cedar  Creek,  October  19, 
came.  The  Plymouth  men  killed  were  Corporal  Edward  C. 
Hopson,  Corporal  William  Wright,  Abner  W.  Scott,  and 
Charles  R.  Warner.  Walter  Oates  was  missing  and  doubtless 
died  in  a  rebel  prison.  Captain  Augustus  H.  Fenn  lost  his 
right  arm  at  the  shoulder. 

The  regiment  participated  in  no  other  battles,  but  belonged 
to  tlie  Army  of  tlie  Potomac  until  mustered  out  August  iS,  1S65. 
Probably  all  of  the  older  residents  will  recall  the  history  of 
Dorence  Atwater,  who  kept  the  records  of  Andersonville  prison. 
He  is  a  son  of  Plenry  Atwater,  of  Plymouth,  and  when  a  boy 
was  a  clerk  in  the  store  at  Terryville.  Colonel  A.  H.  Fenn  in 
writing  of  Mr.  Atwater  says  he  "has  better  claims  to  enduring 
remembrance  than  that  of  anv  other  person  from   the  town    of 


I04 


IIIS'IOHV    OF     I'J.V.MOl   Til- 


Surprise  at  CeJar  CreeU. 


1^  '^.^^  ^r^^"; 


r^y^^g. 


Explosion  of  the  Mine  at  Petersbiir^^i' 


THE    CI\'1L    WAK.  IO5 

Plymouth  who  went  into  the  war."  The  details  of  liis  life 
would  read  like  a  romance.  At  the  age  of  sixteen,  on  the  out- 
break of  the  war,  he  enlisted  in  the  first  squadron  of  Connecticut 
Cavalry,  afterwards  attached  to  the  Harris  Light  Cavalry  of 
New  York.  He  served  for  nearly  his  full  term,  participating  in 
the  hard  campaigning  and  sharp  battles  that  command  experienced 
and  was  finally  captured  and  taken  to  the  terrible  Andersonville 
prison  pen,  where  so  many  brave  Connecticut  boys  met  their 
death.  He  was  an  excellent  penman,  and  for  this  or  some  other 
reason  he  was  detailed  there  for  work  in  the  surgeon's  office  of 
the  hospital  department,  where  it  was  a  part  of  his  duty  to  keep 
a  record  of  the  dead,  their  regiments,  number  of  their  graves, 
etc.  While  doing  this  he  managed  to  keep  an  extra  copy  of  the 
record  for  his  own  use,  and  this  he  brought  away  with  him 
when  he  was  paroled,  concealing  it  under  his  clothing.  Arriving 
at  his  home  in  Terryville,  wasted  almost  to  a  skeleton  by  sick- 
ness, induced  bv  army  exposure,  he  was  for  a  while  dangerously 
ill.  Meantime  the  war  department  heard  of  the  valuable  records 
and  summoned  him  to  Washington  and  purchased  a  right  to 
copy  the  records,  which  were  of  invaluable  service  to  the 
government  and  to  friends  of  soldiers  in  determining  the  fate  of 
many  missing  men.  His  carefully  kept  list  contained  the  names 
of  thirteen  thousand  soldiers  dead.  His  rolls  were  copied  according 
to  agreement,  and  when  Miss  Clara  Barton,  the  noble  friend  of 
Union  soldiers,  went  on  her  expedition  to  Andersonville  after  the 
war  to  identif}'  and  properly  mark  the  graves  of  the  dead, 
Atwater  was  detailed  for  service  with  her,  and  his  records  were 
placed  in  his  possession  and  were  the  only  reliable  records 
obtainable  for  identification  of  the  graves.  The  details  of 
Mr.  Atwater's  subsequent  experiences  with  the  war  department 
show  the  most  cruel  case  of  injustice  of  a  government  towards 
one  of  its  faithful  servants  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge. 
We  will  not  enter  into  the  particulars  of  the  experience  now. 
He  was  made  to  suffer  a  cruel  wr^ng  which  to  this  day  has  never 
been  righted  in  the  war  department. 

In  1S6S,  still  sufiering  in  health  from  his  hardships,  he  was 
appointed  United  States  Consul  to  the  vSe^xhelles  Islands,  in  the 
Indian  Ocean.  Three  years  later  he  was  transferred  to  the 
United  States  Consulate  at  Tahiti,  in  the  South  Pacific.  He 
was  a  faithful  and  valuable  official  in  both  positions,  and  only 
resigned  after  he  had  served  over  a  score  of  years.  He  married 
a  Tahitian  lady,  and  by  this  marriage  is  allied  to  the  royal 
family.  Her  fother  was  an  English  gentleman,  for  many  years 
in  business  in  Tahiti.  Mr.  Atwater  still  makes  it  his  home  in 
the  South  Pacific,  coming  to  San  Francisco  once  or  twice  a  year. 

The  following  extracts  from  a  report  written  by  Miss  Clara 
Barton,  published  in  iS66,  will  be  interesting  in  connection  with 
the  above  : 

"  Having,  by  official  invitation,  been  placed  upon  an  expedi- 
tion to  Andersonville,  for  the  purpose  of  identifying  and  marking 
the  graves  of  the  dead  contained  in  those  noted  prison  grounds, 
it  is  perhaps  not  improper  that  I  make  some  report  of  the  cir- 


[o6 


HISrOK\      OF    Pl,^  .MOU  111. 


The  Battle  of  tlie  Crater. 


Upton's  Brigade  at  BlooJv  Angle. 


rilK    I  I\II.    WAK, 


cumstaiiccs  which  induced  the  sending  of  sucli  an  expedition,  its 
work,  and  the  appearance,  condition,  and  surroundings  of  that 
interesting  spot,  hallowed  alike  by  the  suH'erings  of  the  mai  tyred 
dead,  and  the  tears  and  prayers  of  those  who  mourn  them. 

"  During  a  search  for  the  missing  men  of  the  United  States 
.\rmy,  commenced  in  March,  1865,  under  the  sanction  of  our 
late  lamented  President  Lincoln,  1  formed  the  acquaintance  ot 
Dorence  ^Vtwater,  of  Connecticut,  a  member  of  the  2d  New  "^'ork 
Cavalry,  who  had  been  a  prisoner  at  Belle  Isle  and  Anderson- 
ville  twenty-two  months,  and  charged  b\-  the  rebel  authoiities 
with  the  duty  of  keeping  the  Death  Register  of  the  Union 
Prisoners  who  died  amid  the  nameless  cruelties  of  the  last  named 
prison. 

"  By  minute  inquiry,  I  learned  from  Mr.  Atwater  the 
method  adopted  in  the  burial  of  the  dead;  and  by  carefully  com- 
paring his  account  with  a  draft  which  he  had  made  of  the 
grounds  appropriated  for  this  purpose  by  the  prison  authorities, 
T  became  convinced  of  the  possibility  of  identifying  the  graves, 
simplv  by  comparing  the  numbered  post  or  board  marking  each 
man's  position  in  the  trench  in  which  he  was  buried,  with  the 
corresponding  number  standing  against  his  name  upon  the 
register  kept  by  Mr.  Atwater,  wdiich  he  informed  me  was  then 
in  the  possession  of  the  War  Department. 

"  Assured  by  the  intelligence  and  frankness  of  m\-  informant 
of  the  entire  trutht\ilness  of  his  statements,  I  decided  to  impart 
to  the  officers  of  the  Government  the  information  I  had  gained, 
and  accordingly  brought  the  subject  to  the  attention  of  General 
Hoffman,  Commissary  General  of  prisoners,  asking  that  a  party 
or  expedition  be  at  once  sent  to  Andersonville  for  the  purpose  of 
identifying  and  marking  the  graves,  and  enclosing  the  grounds; 
and  that  Dorence  Atwater,  with  his  register,  accompany  the 
same  as  the  proper  person  to  designate  and  identifv.  The  sub- 
ject appeared  to  have  been  not  only  unheard,  but  unthought  of; 
and  from  the  generallv  prevailing  impression  that  no  care  had 
been  taken  in  the  burial  of  our  prisoners,  the  idea  seemed  at  first 
difficult  to  be  entertained.  But  the  same  facts  which  had  served 
to  convince  me,  presented  themselves  favorably  to  the  good 
understanding  and  kind  heart  of  General  HotVman,  who  took 
immediate  steps  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  Hon.  Secretary  of 
War,  upon  whom,  at  his  request,  I  called  the  following  day, 
and  learned  from  Iiim  that  he  had  heard  and  approved  my  prop- 
osition, and  decided  to  order  an  expedition,  consisting  of 
materials  and  men,  under  charge  of  some  government  officer, 
for  the  accomplishment  of  the  objects  set  forth  in  my  request, 
and  invited  me  to  accompany  the  expedition  in  person — which 
invitation  T  accepted. 

"Accordingly,  on  the  Sth  of  July,  the  propeller  \'irginia, 
liaving  on  board  fencing  material,  head-boards,  the  prison 
records,  forty  workmen,  clerks  and  letterers,  imder  commatid  of 
Capt.  James  M.  Moore,  A.  Q^.  M.,  Dorence  Atwater  and  myself, 
left  Washington  for  Andersonville,  via  vSavannah,  Georgia, 
arriving    at    the    latter    i)lace     ]u\y    12th.        Having    waited     at 


loS 


HISTORY     OF     I'l.V.MOL'  III. 


Bur\ine  the  Dead. 


Cemeter\-  ;it  AnJersmn  illf . 


THE    CI\II,    WAK.  109 

Savannah  seven  days,  and  then  resumed  the  journey  by  way  of 
Augusta,  Atlanta,  and  Macon,  the  entire  party  reached  its  desti- 
nation in  safety  about  noon  on  the  25th  of  Jul\. 

"We  found  the  prison  grounds,  stockade,  hospital  sheds, 
and  the  various  minor  structures,  almost  in  the  same  condition  in 
which  they  had  been  evacuated  ;  and  care  is  taken  to  leave  these 
historic  monuments  undisturbed,  so  long  as  the  elements  will 
spare  them. 

"  There  is  not,  and  never  was,  any  town  or  village  at  this 
place  except  what  grew  out  of  its  military  occupation.  Anderson 
Station,  on  the  railroad  from  Macon  to  Eufala,  was  selected  as  a 
depot  for  prisoners,  probably  on  account  of  its  remoteness  and 
possible  security,  and  the  prison  itseli",  with  the  buildings  which 
sprang  up  around  it,  constituted  all  there  was  of  Andersonville. 

"The  original  enclosure  of  nineteen  acres  was  made  in  the 
unbroken  woods;  and  the  timber  was  only  removed  as  it  was 
w^anted  for  the  necessities  of  the  prison.  The  enclosure  was 
made  in  January,  1864,  and  enlarged  during  the  summer,  to 
twenty-five  and  three-quarter  acres — being  a  quadrangle  of  1,295 
by  86^  feet.  The  greatest  length  is  from  north  to  south,  the 
ground  rising  from  the  middle  towards  each  end  in  rather  a 
steep,  rounded  hill — the  northern  one  being  at  once  the  highest 
and  of  the  greatest  extent.  A  small  stream,  rising  from  springs 
a  little  to  the  eastward,  flows  across  it  through  a  narrow  valley 
flUed  with  a  compost  washed  down  by  the  rains.  The  enclosing 
stockade  is  formed  of  pine  logs,  twenty  feet  in  length,  and  about 
eight  inches  in  diameter,  sunk  five  feet  in  the  ground,  and  placed 
close  together.  This  is  again  surrounded  by  two  successive,  and 
precisely  similar,  palisades — a  portion  of  the  last  of  which  is 
gone.  It  seems  never  to  have  been  completed.  The  two  inner 
walls  remain  entire.  Within  the  interior  space,  at  the  distance 
of  about  seventeen  feet  from  the  stockade,  runs  the  famous  dead- 
line, marked  by  small  posts  set  in  the  ground,  and  a  slight  ttrip 
of  pine  board  nailed  on  the  tops  of  them.  The  gates,  of  which 
there  are  two,  situated  on  the  west  side,  were  continuations  of 
the  stockade,  enclosing  spaces  of  thirty  feet  square,  more  or  less, 
with  massive  doors  at  either  end.  They  were  arranged  and 
worked  on  the  principle  of  canal  locks.  Upon  the  inner  stockade 
were  fifty-two  sentry  boxes,  raised  above  the  tops  of  the  palisades, 
and  accessible  to  the  guard  by  ladders.  In  these  stood  fifty-two 
guards,  with  loaded  arms,  so  near  that  they  could  converse  with 
each  other.  In  addition  to  these,  seven  forts  mounted  with  field 
artillery,  commanded  the  fatal  space  and  its  masses  of  perishing 
men. 

"Under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  and  best  possible 
management,  the  supply  of  water  would  have  been  insufficient 
for  half  the  number  of  persons  who  had  to  use  it.  The  existing 
arrangements  must  have  aggravated  the  evil  to  the  utmost  extent. 
The  sole  establishments  for  cooking  and  baking  were  placed  on 
the  bank  of  the  stream  immediately  above,  and  between  the  two 
inner  lines  of  palisades.  The  grease  and  refuse  from  them  were 
found  adhering  to  the  banks  at  the  time  of  our  visit.     The  guards. 


no 


HlSIOin     OI.-    l'l,YMOL'TII. 


Dnuu...  A;,^ai> 


AiiJersdinille  Stockade,  Sluiwiiii;  the  DeaJ  Li 


'IIIK    t  IVII.    W  AU.  1  1  I 

to  the-  number  ot"  about  3,600,  were  principally  encamped  on  liie 
upper  part  ot"  the  stream,  and  when  the  heavy  rains  washed 
down  ihe  hill  sides,  covered  with  80,000  human  beings,  and  the 
outlet  below  failed  to  discharge  tlie  flood  which  backed  antl  tilled 
the  valley,  the  water  must  have  become  so  foul  and  loathsome, 
that  every  statement  I  have  seen  of  its  ofl'ensiveness  must  be  con- 
sidered as  falling  short  of  the  reality.  And  yet,  within  rifle-shot 
of  the  prison,  there  flowed  a  stream  fifteen  feet  wide  and  three 
feet  deep,  of  pure,  delicious  water.  Had  the  prison  been  placed 
so  as  to  include  a  section  of  the  'Sweet  Water  Creek,'  the 
inmates  might  have  drank  and  bathed  to  their  hearts'  content. 

•'The  cemetery,  around  which  the  chief  interest  must 
gather,  is  distant  about  300  yards  from  the  stockade  in  a  north- 
westerly direction.  The  graves,  placed  side  by  side  in  close 
continuous  rows,  cover  nine  acres,  divided  into  three  unequal 
lots  by  two  roads  which  intersect  each  other  nearly  at  right 
angles.  The  fourth  space  is  still  unoccupied,  except  h\  a  few 
graves  of  '  Confederate'  soldiers. 

'•No  human  bodies  were  found  exposed,  and  none  were 
removed.  The  })lace  was  found  in  much  better  condition  than 
had  been  anticipated,  owing  to  the  excellent  measures  taken  by 
Major-General  Wilson,  commanding  at  Macon,  and  a  humane 
public-spirited  citizen  of  Fort  Valley,  Georgia — a  IMr.  Griftin, 
who,  in  passing  on  the  railroad,  was  informed  by  one  of  the 
ever-faithful  negroes,  that  the  bodies  were  becoming  exposed, 
and  were  rooted  up  by  animals.  Having  verified  this  statement, 
he  collected  a  few  negroes,  sank  the  exposed  bodies,  and  covered 
them  to  a  proper  depth.  He  then  reported  the  facts  to  General 
Wilson,  and  requested  authority  to  take  steps  for  protecting  the 
grounds.  That  patriotic  oflicer  visited  Andersonville  in  person, 
appointed  Mr.  Griflin  temporary  superintendent,  and  gave  him 
such  limited  facilities  as  could  be  furnished  in  that  destitute 
country.  It  was  determined  to  inclose  a  square  of  fifty  acies; 
and,  at  the  time  of  our  arrival,  the  fence  was  nearly  one-third 
built — from  old  lumber  found  about  the  place.  He  had  also 
erected  a  brick  kiln,  and  w^as  manufacturing  brick  for  drains  to 
conduct  the  water  away  from  the  graves,  and  protect  and 
strengthen  the  soil  against  the  action  of  heav\-  rains.  We  found 
Mr.  Griffin  with  a  force  of  about  twenty  negroes  and  a  few- 
mules,  at  work  on  the  grounds.  I  have  understood  that  that 
gentleman  furnished  the  labor  at  his  own  cost,  while  General 
W'ilson  issued  the  necessarv  rations. 

"  The  part  performed  by  our  party  was  to  take  up  and  carrv 
forward  the  work  so  well  commenced.  Additional  force  was 
obtained  from  the  militar}- commandant  at  Macon  for  completing 
the  enclosure  and  erecting  the  head-boards.  It  seems  that  the 
dead  had  been  buried  by  Union  prisoners,  paroled  from  the 
stockade  and  hospital  for  that  purpose.  Successive  trenches, 
capable  of  containing  from  100  to  150  bodies  each,  thickly  set 
with  little  posts  or  boards,  with  numbers  in  regular  order  carved 
upon  them,  told  to  the  astonished  and  tear-dimmed  eve  the  sad 
story  of  buried  treasures.      It  was  onlv  necessary  to  compare  the 


HIS'lOKV    OF     PLYMOUTH. 


The  Battle  of  Winchester. 


•*';l-!2t:.-T;*-  ■   •■-•--;,:'■■,•    ■-.^:~^:^^>.:ij^^^r^t^^%"^- 


MX- 


»  V  3  U  H  H 


L'nion   Breastworks  at  Cold   Harbor. 


THE    CI\IL    WAR.  II3 

number  upon  each  post  or  board  with  that  which  stands  opposite 
the  name  on  the  register,  antl  replace  the  whole  with  a  more 
substantial,  uniform  and  comely  tablet,  bearing  not  only  the 
original  number,  but  the  name,  company  and  regiment,  and  date 
of  death  of  the  soldier  who  slept  beneath. 

"  I  have  been  repeatedly  assured  by  prisoners  that  great  care 
was  taken  at  the  time  by  the  men  to  whom  fell  the  sad  task  of 
originally  marking  this  astonishing  number  of  graves,  to  perform 
the  work  with  faithfulness  and  accuracy.  If  it  shall  prove  that 
the  work  performed  by  those  who  followed,  under  circumstances 
so  much  more  favorable,  was  executed  with  less  fjiithfulness  and 
accuracy  than  the  former,  it  will  be  a  subject  of  much  regret — 
but  fortunately  not  yet  beyond  the  possibility  of  correction. 
The  number  of  graves  marked  is  12,920.  The  original  records, 
captured  by  General  Wilson,  furnished  about  10,500;  but  as  one 
book  ot  the  record  had  not  been  secured,  over  2,000  names  were 
supplied  from  a  copy  (of  his  own  record)  made  by  Mr.  Atwater 
in  the  Andersonville  prison,  and  brought  by  him  to  Annapolis 
on  his  return  with  the  paioled  prisoners. 

"■  Interspersed  throughout  this  Death  Register  were  400 
numbers  against  which  stood  only  the  dark  word  'unknown.' 
So,  scattered  among  the  thickly  designated  graves,  stand  400 
tablets,  bearing  only  the  number  and  the  touching  inscription 
'  Unknown  Union  Soldier.' 

"  Substanticdlv,  nothing  was  attempted  bevond  enclosing 
the  grounds,  identifying  and  marking  the  graves,  placing  some 
appropriate  mottoes  at  the  gates  and  along  the  spaces  designed 
for  walks,  and  erecting  a  flagstatl'in  the  center  of  the  cemetery. 
The  work  was  completed  on  the  17th  of  August,  and  the  party 
took  the  route  homeward  by  wav  of  Chattanooga,  Nashville,  and 
Cincinnati,  arriving  at  Washington  on  the  morning  of  August 
24th. 

'•  For  the  record  of  your  dead,  you  are  indebted  to  the  fore- 
thought, courage,  and  perseverance  of  Dorence  Atwater,  a  voung 
man  not  yet  twenty-one  years  of  age ;  an  orphan  ;  four  years  a 
soldier;  one-tenth  part  of  his  whole  life  a  prisoner,  with  broken 
health  and  ruined  hopes,  he  seeks  to  present  to  your  acceptance 
the  sad  gift  he  has  in  store  for  you  ;  and,  grateful  for  the  oppor- 
tunity, I  hasten  to  place  beside  it  this  humble  report,  whose  onlv 
merit  is  its  truthfulness,  and  beg  you  to  accept  it  in  tlie  spirit  of 
kindness  in  whicli  it  is  oflered." 


COMPLETE    ROSTER    OF    THE    SOEDIERS    ENLISTING     FROM    OR 
BELONGING.  TO    PLYMOUTH. 

Erastus  Blakeslee,  enlisted  October  9,  1861,  Co.  A,  l.st  Regt.,  C.  V.  Comnussioned 
2d  Lieutenant  Co.  A,  October  18,  1861  (not  mustered).  Mustered  Adjutant. 
Promoted  Captain  Co.  A,  March  28,  1862.  Promoted  from  Captain  Co.  A  to 
Major,  December  18,  1863.  Lieutenant-Colonel,  May  31,  1864.  Wounded  .June 
1,  1864,  Ashland,  Va.  Promoted  Colonel,  June  6,  1864.  Discharged  October  26, 
1864,  time  expired.     Promoted  Brigadier-General,  by  brevet,  March  13,  1865. 


114 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Brayton  Ives,  enlisted  June  21,  1861,  Co.  F,  5th  Regt.  Promoted  from  Adjutant, 
September  25,  1861.  Appointed  A.  A.  G.,  U.  S.  Vols.,  May  14,  1862.  Promoted 
Lieutenant-Colonel,  November  1,  1864.  Colonel,  January  17,  1865.  Brigadier- 
General,  by  brevet,  March  13,  1865.    Mustered  out,  August  2,  1865. 

Augustus  H.  Fenn,  enlisted  July  16, 1862.  Promoted  Captain  Co.  C,  from  1st  Lieu- 
tenant Co.  K,  April  13,  1864.  Wounded  October  19,  1864,  Cedar  Creek,  Va. 
Promoted  Major  2d  Regt.,  Heavy  Artillery,  January  20,  1865.  Lieutenant- 
Colonel,  by  brevet,  April  6,  1865.    Mustered  out. 

William  B.  Ells,  enlisted  May  23,  1861.  Promoted  2d  Lieutenant  Co.  L,  August  26, 
1862.  Captain  Co.  D,  2d  Regt.,  C.  V.,  H.  A.,  September  29,  1862.  Promoted 
Major,  March  T,  1864.  Wounded,  June  1,  1864,  Cold  Harbor,  Va.  Discharged, 
December  24,  1864. 

Eugene  Atwater,  enlisted  October  23,  1861,  Meriden,  private  1st  Light  Battery. 
Served  in  10th  Army  Corps  at  Port  Royal,  S.  C,  and  on  the  James  until  mus- 
tered out  in  1864.  Commissioned  1st  Lieutenant  6th  C.  V.  Enlisted  December 
2, 1864,  1st  O.  v..  Light  Bat.  Mustered  1st  Lieutenant,  Co.  E,  6th  Regt.  Pro- 
moted Captain,  February  13,  186.5.     Mustered  out,  August  21,  1865. 

Zelotes  P.  Granniss,  enlisted  August  11,  1862,  Co.  D,  2d  Regt.,  H.  A.  Mustered 
Private.     Promoted  Corporal,  March  1,  1865.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

John  C.  Chase,  enlisted  August  15,  1862.  Mustered  Private.  Promoted  Corporal, 
July  1,  1864.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

Joseph  B.  Fenn,  enlisted  July  25,  1862,  Co.  D,  2d  Regt.,  H.  A.  Mustered  Private. 
Promoted  Corporal,  November  8,  1862.  Sergeant,  January  10,  1864.  1st  Ser- 
geant, March  30,  1864.  2d  Lieutenant,  Co.  B,  October  5th,  1864.  Promoted  1st 
Lieutenant,  December  20,  1864.     Mustered  out,  August  18,  1865. 

Robert  A.  Potter,  enlisted  July  25,  1862,  Co.  D,  C.  V.,  H.  A.  Promoted  1st  Lieu- 
tenant. Co.  A,  August  24,  1863.     Mustered  out,  August  18,  1865. 

Franklin  J.  Candee,  enlisted  August  15,  1862,  Co.  D.  Promoted  1st  Lieutenant,  Co. 
H,  April  13,  1864.     Killed,  September  19,  1864,  Winchester,  Va. 

Horace  Hubbard,  enlisted  August  11,  1862,  Co.  D.  Promoted  2d  Lieutenant,  Co.  H. 
March  5,  1864.    Killed,  September  14,  1864,  Winchester,  Va. 

Lewis  W.  Munger,  enlisted  July  22,  1862,  Co.  D,  2d  H.  A.  Promoted  1st  Lieu- 
tenant, Co.  E,  February  19,  1865.  Captain,  by  brevet,  April  2,  1865.  Mustered 
out,  August  18, 1865. 

Thomas  D.  Bradstreet,  enlisted  August  12,  1862,  Co.  D.     Discharged.  March  9.  1863. 

Amzi  P.  Clark,  enlisted  August  14,  1862,  Co.  D.  Wounded,  October  19,  1864,  Cedar 
Creek.     Promoted  2d  Lieutenant,  Co.  B,  February  23,  1865. 

David  B.  Wooster,  enlisted  August  13,  1862,  Co.  D.  Promoted  Quartermaster- 
Sergeant,  March  7,  1864.  Wounded,  June  1,  1864,  Cold  Harbor.  Killed,  Sep- 
tember 22,  1864,  Fisher's  Hill,  Va. 

Ira  H.  Stoughton,  enlisted  July  23,  1862,  Co.  D.  Wounded,  September  19,  1864, 
Winchester,  Va.  Promoted  Quartermaster-Sergeant,  March  1,  1865.  Dis- 
charged, July  7,  1865. 

Seeley  S.  Morse,  enlisted  January  4,  1864,  Co  D.  Wounded,  September  19,  1864, 
Winchester,  Va.  Promoted  Quartermaster-Sergeant,  July  9.1865.  Mustered 
out,  August  18,  1865. 

Henry  N.  Bushnell,  enlisted  July  21,  1862,  Co.  D.  Wounded,  October  19,  1864, 
Cedar  Creek,  Va.     Promoted  Sergeant,  March  1, 1865.      Discharged,  July  7, 1865. 

Hiram  E.  Castle,  enlisted  January  15, 1864,  Co.  D.  Promoted  Sergeant,  July  9. 1865. 
Mustered  out,  August  18,  1865. 

Charles  I.  Hough,  enlisted  July  23,  1862,  Co.  D.  Promoted  Sergeant,  September 
19,  1864.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

Ralph  W.  Munson,  enlisted  August  11,  1862,  Co.  D.  Promoted  Sergeant,  March  1, 
1865.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

Daniel  O.  Purcell,  enlisted  August  12,  1862,  Co.  D.  Promoted  Sergeant,  September 
19,  1864.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

Salmon  B.  Smith,  enlisted  .\ugust6,  1862,  Co.  D.  Promoted  Sergeant,  September 
13,  1863.     Died,  August  11,  1864. 

Emery  B.  Taylor,  enlisted  August  12,  1862,  Co.  D.  Wounded,  September  19,  1864, 
Winchester,  Va.  Promoted  Sergeant,  September  13,  1864.  Discharged,  May 
18,  1865. 

George  H.  Bates,  enlisted  July  22, 1862.  Wounded,  September  19, 1864,  Winchester. 
Va.     Promoted  Corporal,  January  13,  1865.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 


ROSTER    OF    SOLDIERS,  II5 

Wallace  E.  Beach,  enlisted  July  22,  1862,  Co.  D.  Woundnd,  June  1,  1864,  Cold  Har- 
bor, Va.    Promoted  Corporal,  March  1,  1865.    Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

Charles  E.  Guernsey,  enlisted  August  7,  1862,  Co.  D.  Promoted  Corporal,  January 
10,  1864.     Wounded,  June  22,  1864,  Petersburg,  Va.     Died,  June  28,  1864. 

William  W.Johnson,  enlisted  Corporal,  August",  1862,  Co.  D.  Died,  January  30, 1863. 

Henry  Tolles,  enlisted  August  12,  1862,  Co.  D.  Wounded,  October  19,  1864,  Cedar 
Creek,  Va.     Promoted  Corporal,  January  13,  1865.    Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

William  Weston,  enlisted  August  7,  1862,  Co.  D.  Promoted  Corporal,  January  13, 
1865.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

William  Wright,  enlisted  August  7,  1862,  Co.  D.  Promoted  Corporal,  July  1.  1864. 
Killed,  October  19,  1864.  Cedar  Creek,  Va. 

Henry  Pond,  enlisted  wagoner,  August  8,  1862,  Co.  D.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

Henry  C.  Barnum,  enlisted  July  24,  1862,  Co.  D.     Discharged,  September  19,  1864. 

George  L.  Beach,  enlisted  August  15,  1862,  Co.  D.  Wounded,  June  1,  Cold  Harbor, 
Va.     Died,  June  14,  1864. 

James  A.  Beach,  enlisted  August  15,  1862,  Co.  D.     Discharged,  June  3,  1865. 

Charles  F.  Brown,  enlisted  January  4,  1864,  Co.  D.     Discharged  June  15,  1865. 

William  J.  P.  Buck,  enlisted  January  4,  1864,  Co.  D.    Mustered  out,  August  18, 1865. 

James  H.  Cable,  enlisted  August  9,  1862,  Co.  D.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

Martin  H.  Camp,  enlisted  August  6,  1862,  Co.  D.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

Charles  G.  Cleveland,  enlisted  August  8,  1862,  Co.  D.    Died,  January  20,  1863. 

Hiram  T.  Coley,  enlisted  July  25,  1862,  Co.  D.  Killed,  September  19,  1864,  Win- 
chester, Va. 

George  T.  Cook,  enli.sted  August  8,  1862,  Co.  D.    Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

Benjamin  Filley,  enlisted  August  11,  1862,  Co.  D.  Captured,  June  22,  1864,  Peters- 
burg, Va.     Died,  October  31,  1864,  Florence,  S.  C. 

Joseph  Gooley,  enlisted  August  6,  1862,  Co.  D.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

John  Grieder,  enlisted  July  29,  1862,  Co.  D.  Wounded,  June  20,  1864,  Petersburg, 
Va.    Died,  July  31,  1864. 

Jonathan  Hall,  enlisted  January  4,  1864,  Co.  D.  Wounded,  June  1,  1864,  Cold 
Harbor,  Va.    Discharged,  April  30, 1865. 

Samuel  Hine,  enlisted  February  12,  1864,  Co.  D.    Mustered  out,  August  18,  1865. 

Albert  J.  Hotchkiss,  enlisted  August  11,  1862,  Co.  D.    Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

Swift  McG.  Hunter,  enlisted  July  17,  1862,  Co.  D.  Wounded,  September  22.  1864, 
Fisher's  Hill,  Va.    Discharged,  May  30,  1865. 

William  Lindley,  enlisted  July  26,  1862,  Co.  D.  Discharged,  disabilities,  April  11, 
1863. 

William  H.  Lindley,  enlisted  January  22.  1864,  Co.  D.  Wounded,  October  19.  1864, 
Cedar  Creek,  Va.    Discharged,  August  28,  1865. 

Thomas  Mann,  enlisted  August  7,  1862,  Co.  D.  Wounded,  June  3,  1864,  Cold 
Harbor.    Died,  June  8,  1864. 

John  McFadden,  enlisted  February  9,  1864,  Co.  D.  Transferred  to  Co.  M,  July  20, 
1865.    Mustered  out,  August  18,  1865. 

John  M.  Moseley,  enlisted  January  22,  1864,  Co.  D.  Captured,  July  21,  1864, 
Snicker's  Gap,  Va.    Paroled,  October  17,  1864.    Mustered  out,  August  18,  1865. 

Henry  Munger,  enlisted  February  12,  1864,  Co.  D.     Discharged,  June  13,  1865. 

Jerome  Munger,  enlisted  August  8,  1862,  Co.  D.    Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

John  Murphy,  Jr.,  enlisted  August  16,  1862,  Co.  D.  Killed  June  I,  1864.  Cold 
Harbor. 

Walter  Oates,  enlisted  January  4,  1864,  Co.  D.  Captured  October  19,  1864,  Cedar 
Creek,  Va.    Discharged,  July  3,  186.5. 

George  L.  Penfield,  enlisted  August  13,  1862,  Co.  D.     Discharged,  July  12,  1865. 

Horatio  G.  Perkins,  enlisted  August  6,  1862,  Co.  D.     Died,  January  9,  1865. 

Justin  O.  Stoughton,  enlisted  August  7,  1862,  Co.  D.  Wounded,  June  1,  1864,  Cold 
Harbor,  Va.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

James  Straun,  enlisted  August  14,  1862,  Co.  D.  Captured,  June  1,  1864,  Cold  Har- 
bor, Va.    Died,  August  2.  1864,  Andersonville,  Ga. 

Charles  W.  Talcott,  enlisted  August  8,  1862,  Co.  D.    Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

Samuel  R.  Terrell,  enlisted  August  7,  1862,  Co.  D.    Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 

Burritt  H.  Tolles,  enlisted  August  12,  1862,  Co.  D.     Died,  January  12,  1863. 

Josiah  J.  Wadsworth,  enlisted  August  15,  1862,  Co.  D.    Died,  September  19,  1863. 

Matthias  Walter,  enlisted  .\ugust  13,  1862.  Wounded,  June  20,  1864,  Petersburg, 
Va.    Discharged,  June  13,  1865. 


ii6 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Charles  R.  Warner,  enlisted  August  6,  1862.    Killed,  October  19,  1864,  Cedar  Creek, 

Va. 
Hermon  E.  Bonnay,  enlisted  December  24, 1863,  Co.  G,  2d  H.  A.    Died,  June  28, 1864. 
Quincey  Thayer,  enlisted  February  5, 1864,  Co.  G,  2d  H.  A.   Discharged,  disabilities, 

July  31,  1865. 
Charles  V.   Flandreau,   enlisted   February   12,  Co.   H,  2d  H.   A.     Mustered  out, 

August  18,  1865. 
John  F.  Harrigan,  enlisted  August  7,  1862,  Co.  I,  2d  H.  A.     Wounded,  September 

19,  1864,   Winchester,  Va.      Promoted   Corporal,   March  5,  1865.      Discharged, 

July  7,  1865. 
William  O'Brien,  enlisted  July  28,  1862,  Co.  I,  2d  H.  A.      Wounded,  September  22, 

1864,  Fisher's  Hill,  Va.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 
Arthur   Lockvvood,   enlisted   July   23,  1862,  Co.  K,  2d  H.  A.     Promoted    Sergeant, 

April  18,  1864.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 
George   A.  Hoyt,  Jr.,  enlisted   musician,  August  14,  1862,  Co.  K,  2d    H.  A.     Died, 

June  6,  1863. 
Miner  C.  Wedge,  enlisted  wagoner,  August  1,  1862,  Co.  K,  2d  H.  A.    Discharged, 

August  13,  1863. 
Joseph  B.  Camp,  enlisted  December  24,  1863,  Co.  K,  2d  H.  A.     Missing  in  action, 

June  1,  1864,  Cold  Harbor,  probably  killed. 
Wesley  Glover,  enlisted  August  10,  1862,  Co.  K,  2d  H.  A.     Died,  December  28,  1862. 
Englebert  Hermon,  enlisted  August  7,  1862,  Co.  K,  2d  H.  A.    Wounded,  October  19, 

1864,  Cedar  Creek,  Va.     Discharged,  July  7,  1865. 
Eben  Norton,  enlisted  July  29,  1862,  Co.  K,  2d  H.  A.     Died  June  12,  1864. 
Asa  Pettis,  enlisted  August  6,  1862,  Co.  K,  2d  H.  A.     Discharged,  July  7.  1865. 
John  Mclntyre,  enlisted  February  8,  1864,  Co.  L,  2d  H.  A.     Deserted,  February  22, 

1864. 
George  Norman,  enlisted  February  6,  1864,  Co.  L,  2d  H.  A.     Discharged,  June  23, 

1865. 
Cornelius   L.  Everett,   enlisted   February   13,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d   H.  A.    Discharged, 

June  8,  1865. 
George  H.  Couch,  enlisted  February  13,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.    Promoted  Coiporal, 

March  19,  1864.     Discharged,  June  22,  1865. 
Edward  Crosby,  enlisted  February  10,  1864,  Co.  IM,  2d  H.  A.     Discharged,  June  13, 

1865. 
John  Darkins,  enlisted  February  11,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.  Deserted,  July  15,  1864. 
John  Doris,  enlisted  February  10, 1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.  Deserted,  November  9,  1864. 
James  Devine,  enlisted  February  11,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.  Deserted,  July  11,  1864. 
William  Erwin,  enlisted  February  11,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.  Discharged,  disabili- 
ties. May  30,  1865. 
Arthur  Kemp,  enlisted  February  9, 1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.  Deserted,  March  27,  1864. 
Alfred  Dickinson,  enjisted  February  9, 1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.     Deserted,  February 

21,  1864. 
John  King,  enlisted  February  9,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.     Deserted,  June  2,  1864. 
John  Larkins,  enlisted  February  9,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.      Deserted  May  17, 1864. 
Charles  Marsh,  enlisted  February  9,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.       Deserted,  May  17,  1864. 
John  McLaughlin,  enlisted  February  9,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.      Deserted,  May  17, 

1864. 
Abner  W.  Scott,  enlisted  February  12,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.     Killed,  September  19, 

1864,  Winchester,  Va. 
Jacob  Smith,  enlisted  February  9, 1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.   Deserted,  February  21,  1864. 
George  Pennington,  enlisted  February  9,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.    Deserted,  March  1, 

1864. 
George  Thompson,  enlisted  February  9,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.    Deserted,  July  15, 

1864. 
William  Potter,  enlisted  February  9, 1864,  Co.  M,2d  H.  A.     Deserted,  March  20,  1864. 
Peter   Wood,  enlisted   February  10,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.     Wounded,  October  19, 

1864,  Cedar  Creek,  Va.     Discharged,  June  10,  1865. 
James  C.  Williams,  enlisted  February  9,  1864,  Co.  M,  2d  H.  A.     Deserted,  February 

21,  1864. 
John  T.  Kline,  enlisted  August  20,  1863,  Co.  B,  5th  Infantry.     Wounded,  June  16, 

1864,  Pine    Mountain,  Ga.     Promoted   Corporal,  .May   20,   1865.     Mustered   out, 

July  19,  1865. 


KOSTKK    OK    SOLDIKKS.  IIJ 

James  Winslow,  enlisted  February  8,  1864,  Co.  II,  2d  H.  A.  Deserted,  March  8,  1864. 
Arthur  Lannon,  enlisted  February  6,  1864.  Discharged,  disabilities,  .May  2.3,  1864. 
William  Frise,  enlisted  August  20,  1862,  Co.  B,  5th  Infantry.     Deserted,  September 

29,  1863. 
Charles  Stepel,  enlisted  August  18, 1863,  Co.  B,  .'ith  Infantry.    De.serted,  September 

28,  1863. 
Patrick  Fehan,  enlisted  August  25,  1863,  Co.  F,  20th  C.  V.   Discharged,  disabilities, 

July  11,1865. 
William  Bridgewater,  enlisted  Augu.st25,  1863,  Co.  D,  5th  Infantry.     Mustered  out, 

July  19,  1865. 
James  Mooney,  enlisted  August  25,  1863,  Co.  D,  .5th  Infantry.     Mu.stered  out,  July 

19,  1865. 
Charles  Mortimer,  enlisted  August  26,  1863,  Co.  D,  5th    Infantry.     Mustered   out, 

July  19,  1865. 
Henry  Palmer,  enlisted  August  27,  1863,  Co.  D,  .5th  Infantry.     Promoted  Corporal, 

September  1,  1864.     Died,  December  29,  1864. 
John  Keene,  enlisted  August  27,  1863,  Co.  E,  5th  Infantry.    Deserted,  May  23,  1865. 
Oscar  Knickerbocker,   enlisted   August  27,  1868,  Co.  E,  5th   Infantry.    Deserted, 

September  28,  1863. 
James  Hoyle,  enlisted  August  26, 1863,  Co.  I,  5th  Infantry.     Missing,  no  record. 
John  Jones,  enlisted  August  27, 1863.  Co.  I,  5th  Infantry.     Wounded,  May  15,  1864, 

Resaca,  Ga.    Mustered  out,  July  19,  1865. 
Peter  Marens,  enlisted  August  28,  1863,  Co.  G,  5th  Infantry.    Deserted,  October  2, 

1863. 
Patrick   Kelly,  enlisted  August  28,  1863,  Co.  H,  5th  Infantry.    Wounded,  May  15, 

1864.  Resaca,  Ga.    Deserted,  December  8,  1864. 
William  McLannan,  enlisted  August  28,  1863.     Mustered  out,  July  19,  1865. 
Lewis  W.  Hotch,  enlisted  June  30,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  H.  A.    Discharged,  disabilities, 

November  28,  1861. 
William  Knapp,  enlisted  July  2,5,  1863,  Co.  H,  20th  C.  V.     Discharged,  July  19,  1865. 
Moritz  Lowenthal,  enlisted  Augu.st  22,  1864,  Co.  H,  20th  C.  V.     Mustered  out,  July 

19,  1865. 
Michael   Burke,  enlisted   November  16,  1864,  Co.  D,  6th  Infantry.    Mustered  out, 

August  21,  1865. 
Edwin   Post,  enlisted  May  22,  1861,  Co.  A,  1st  Artillery.    Promoted   Captain,  9th 

Regt.,  U.  S.  C.  I.,  November  10,  1862.     Killed,  August  16,  1864,  Deep  Bottom,  Va. 
William  B.  Atwood,  enlisted  May  23,  1861.    Promoted  Captain,  Co.  B,  1st  Artillery, 

May  24,  1865.     Mustered  out,  September  25,  1865. 
Christian  Peterson,  enlisted  December  13, 1864,  Co.  E,  1st  Artillery.    Mustered  out, 

September  25,  1865. 
Henry  Franksy,  enlisted  December  6,  1864,  Co.  F,  1st  Artillery.    Deserted,  July  30, 

1865. 
George  Lebel,  enlisted  December  6,  Co.  F,  1st  Artillery.     Deserted,  July  28,  1865. 
Fritz  Meyer,  enlisted  December  6,  Co.  F,  1st  Artillery.    Mustered  out,  September 

25,  1865. 
Frederick  L.  Pond,  enlisted  May  22,  1861,  Co.  G,  1st  Artillery.    Promoted  2d  Lieu- 
tenant, February  20,  1863.     Discharged,  October  19,  1864. 
Mark  Alyword,  enlisted  November  21,  1864,  Co.  G,  1st  Artillery.     Mustered  out, 

September  25,  1865. 
Albert  Bunnell,  enlisted    May  22,  1861,  Co.  G,  1st  Artillery.    Discharged,  May  21, 

1864,  time  expired. 
Hubert  C.  Pond,  enlisted   December  1,  1863,  Co.  H,  1st  Artillery.    Mustered  out, 

September  25,  1865. 
Andrew  Terry,  enlisted  September  21,  1861,  Co    I,  1st  Artillery.    Promoted  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel, December  23,  1861.     Resigned,  -March  28,  1862. 
Norman  F.  Stoughton,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.      Promoted  1st 

Sergeant,  June  26,  1865.    Mustered  out,  September  25,  1865. 
Wakeman  R.  Mott,  enlisted  May  23, 1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.    Promoted  Sergeant, 

May  5,  1863.     Discharged,  May  22,  1864,  time  expired. 
George  D.  Oliver,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.    Promoted  Sergeant, 

November  14,  1864.     Discharged.  May  22,  1864,  time  expired. 
Edward  H.  Atkins,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.     Promoted  Corporal, 

December  1.  1863.     Discharged,  May  22,  1864,  time  expired. 


IlS  HISTORY    OF    Pr.VMOUTlI. 

Thomas  H.  McKinley,  enlisted  November  1,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.  Promoted 
2d  Lieutenant,  Co.  B,  29th  C.  V.,  January  1,  1864.  Wounded,  September  29, 
1864,  Richmond,  Va.     Died,  January  3,  1865. 

Lenthel  Nichols,  enlisted  May  23, 1861,  Co.  1, 1st  Artillery.  Discharged,  disabilities, 
June  10,  1862. 

Daniel  Schatzman,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  1, 1st  Artillery.  Promoted  Corporal, 
June  17,  1863.     Discharged,  May  22,  1864,  time  expired. 

William  Shadwell,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.  Discharged.  May  22, 
1864,  time  expired. 

John  L.  Williams,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.  Detailed  wagoner, 
January  2.5,  1864.     Discharged,  May  22,  1864,  time  expired. 

Frederick  L.  Grant,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.  Died,  December  29, 
1861. 

Edmund  John,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.  Discharged,  disabilities, 
June  29,  1863. 

John  Lawton,  enlisted  May  18,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.    Discharged,  May  27,  1863. 

Riley  Marsh,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.  Mustered  out.  September 
25,  1865. 

Henry  Mather,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.  Killed.  June  20,  1862, 
Gaines'  Mills,  Va. 

Patrick  McElhone,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.  Discharged,  May  22, 
1864,  time  expired. 

Henry  F.  Michael,  enlisted  May  23, 1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.  Mustered  out,  Sep- 
tember 25,  1865. 

Hermon  D.  Saul,  enlisted  May  16, 1861,  Co.  1, 1st  Artillery.  Discharged,  disabilities, 
May  6.  1862. 

Alexis  J.  Seymour,  enlisted  May  23, 1861,  Co.  1, 1st  Artillery.    Died,  January  1, 1864. 

John  Simpson,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.  Discharged,  May  22,  1864, 
time  expired. 

Alfred  B.  Smith,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.  Discharged,  May  22, 
1864,  time  expired. 

Edward  P.  Smith,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  1,  1st  Artillery.  Died,  December  10, 
1861. 

Oliver  B.  Welton,  enlisted  March  12,  1862,  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.  Discharged,  May  10, 
1865. 

George  Rogers,  enlisted  August  17,  1864,  Co,  K,  1st  Artillery.  Mustered  out,  Sep- 
tember 25,  1865. 

James  J.  Averill,  enlisted  August  19,  1862,  hospital  steward,  2d  Regt.,  H.  A.  Dis- 
charged, July  7,  1865. 

Arthur  G.  Kellogg,  enlisted  July  16,  1862,  Co.  C,  2d  Artillery.  Died,  November  1, 
1862. 

William  E.  McKee,  enlisted  August  25,  1862,  Co.  C,  2d  Artillery.  Discharged,  dis- 
abilities, June  24,  1865. 

John  Wilson  2d,  enlisted  August  20,  1863,  Co.  D,  5th  Infantry.  Deserted,  Septem- 
ber 9,  1863. 

George  W.  Herly,  enlisted  February  20,  1864,  Co.  H,  5th  Infantry.  Died,  August  7, 
1864. 

Aaron  C.  Sanford,  enlisted  August  23,  1861,  Co.  E,  6th  Infantry.  Wounded,  August 
16,  1864,  Deep  Run,  Va.     Discharged,  disabilities,  April  27,  1865. 

Gains  Fenn,  enlisted  August  23,  1861,  Co.  E,  6th  Infantry.  Discharged,  September 
12,  1864,  time  expired. 

Edward  C.  Blakeslee,  enlisted  August  24,  1861,  Co.  A,  7th  Infantry.  Wounded, 
July  11,  1863,  Ft.  Wagner,  S.  C.     Died,  August  8,  1863. 

Charles  Fob,  enlisted  November  30,  1864,  Co.  G,  7th  Infantry.  Discharged,  August 
18,  1865. 

Nelson  M.  Stephen,  enlisted  February  12,  Co.  H,  8th  Infantry.  Promoted  1st  Ser- 
geant, January  1,  1865.     Mustered  out,  December  12,  1865. 

William  Garvin,  enlisted  February  24,  1864,  Co.  H,  8th  Infantry.  Transferred  to 
U.  S.  N.,  May  4,  1864.  Served  on  U.  S.  S.  "  Agawam."  Discharged,  January  29, 
1866. 

Charles  H.  Dingwell,  enlisted  June  11,  1862.  Transferred  to  U.  S.  N.,  May  4,  1864, 
Served  on  U.  S.  S.  "Minnesota"  and  •' Varidalia."  Transferred  to  receiving 
ship  "  Ohio,"  February  10,  1865. 


KOSTKK    (JF    SOLDIERS.  II9 

Marion  Alfonse,  enlisted  November  18,  1864,  Co.  K,  8th  Infantry.     Mustered  out, 

December  12,  1865. 
Garry  T.  Scott,  enlisted  August  18,  1861,  9th  Regt.    Promoted  Captain,  December 

15,  1864.    Mustered  out,  August  3,  1865. 

John  B.  Green,  enlisted  October  1,  1861,  Co.  D,  9th  Infantry.  Discharged,  August 
17,  1862. 

Charles  W.  Alcott,  enlisted  August  17,  1861,  Co.  I,  9th  C.  V.  Promoted  1st  Ser- 
geant.   Mustered  out,  August  3,  1865. 

Dwight  H.  Cowles,  enlisted  August  30,  1861,  Co.  1,9th  C.  V.  Promoted  Corporal 
February  21.  1863.    Discharged,  October  26,  1864,  time  expired. 

Shelton  Smith,  enlisted  August  17,  1861,  Co.  I,  9th  Infantry.  Discharged,  Mi»y  14, 
1863. 

John  Allen,  enlisted  August  17,  1861,  Co.  I,  9th  Infantry.  Captured,  June  27,  1864, 
Ream's  Station,  Va.     Died,  September  27,  1864,  Andersonville,  Ga. 

Edward  I.  Johnson,  enlisted  October  4,  1861,  Co.  I,  9th  Infantry.     Discharged,  July 

3.  1863. 

Augustus  S.  Smith,  enlisted  October  11,  1861,  Co.  I,  9th  Infantry.    Wounded,  Sep- 
tember 19,  Winchester,  Va.     Mustered  out,  August  3,  1865. 
John  Conklin,  enlisted  December  13,  1864,  Co.  H,  10th  Infantry.    Deserted,  April 

16,  1865. 

William   House,   enlisted    November  21,   1864,   Co.   H,    10th    Infantry.     Deserted, 

August  3,  186.5. 
Charles   A.  Lohman,  mustered  in  November  21,  1864,  Co.  A,  10th  Infantry.     Mus- 
tered out,  August  25,  1865. 
Luther  Camp,  enlisted  September  24,  1861,  Co.  C,  10th  Infantry.     Died,  February 

7,  1865. 
Edwin  Perkins,  enlisted   September  20,  1861,  Co.  C,   10th   Infantry.    Discharged, 

October  7,  1864,  time  expired. 
Jesse  P.  Skinner,  enlisted  October  3,  1861,  Co.  C,  10th  Infantry.    Died,  November 

6,  1862. 
Theodore  Bleacher,  enlisted  November  4,  1863,  Co.  C,  10th  Infantry.     Discharged 

June  20,  1865. 
Francis  Peck,  enlisted  November  18,  1864,  Co.  C,  10th  Infantry.    Deserted,  August 

5,  1865. 
Jacob  Miller,  enlisted  November  21, 1864,  Co.  H,  10th  Infantry.    Deserted,  January 

4,  1865. 

Bernard  Brj'ant,  enlisted  December  8,  1864,  Co.  K,  10th  Infantry.    Deserted,  April 

14,  1865. 
Anthony  Burke,   enlisted   November  18,  1864,   Co.   K,   10th    Infantry.    Deserted, 

August  7,  1865. 
Patrick  Quinn,  enlisted  Decembers,  1864,  Co.  G,  10th  Infantry.    Deserted,  May  22, 

1865. 
Joseph  R.  Bassett,  enlisted  November  21,  1864,  Co.  B,  11th  C.  V.    Captured,  May  16, 

1864,  Drury's  Bluff,  Va.     Died,  January  6, 1865,  Salisbury,  N.  C. 
William  Taylor,  enlisted  November  21,  1864,  Co.  D,  11th  C.  V.    Deserted,  February 

20,  1865. 
Harvey  Homer,  enlisted  February  2,  1864,  Co.  G.  11th  C.  V.     Wounded,  May  1,  1864. 

Mustered  out,  December  21, 1865. 
Edward  Johnson,  enlisted  February  20,  1864,  Co.  G,  11th  C.  V.    Captured,  May  16, 

1864,  Drury's  Bluff,  Va.     Mustered  out,  June  19,  1865. 
William  Lacy,  enlisted  February  20,  1864,  Co.  G,  11th  C.  V.     Wounded,  May  9,  1864, 

Swift's  Creek,  Va.    Promoted   Sergeant,  September  1,   1865.      Mustered   out, 

December  21,  1865. 
Nicholas  Doyle,  enlisted  November  25,  1864,  Co.  E,  11th  C.  V.    Deserted,  January 

27,  1865. 
Hiram  Griggs,  enlisted  April  21,  1865,  Co.  A,  3d  Regt.    Promoted  2d  Lieutenant, 

Co.  C,  75th  Regt.,  U.  S.  C.  I.,  April  4,  1863. 
John  C.  Ryan,  enlisted  December  22,  1861,  Co.  A,  13th  C.  V.    Discharged,  May  24, 

1862. 
Friend  Sutliffe,  enlisted  December  22,  1861,  Co.  A,  13th  C.  V.     Died,  April  11,  1866, 

Alexandria,  Va. 
Edward  R.  Weed,  enlisted  December  22,  1861,  Co.  A,  13th  C.  V.    Died.  May  27,  1863, 

New  Orleans,  La. 


I20  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

George  Wright,  enlisted  December  30,  1861,  Co.  A.  13th  C.  V.  Discharged,  disabil- 
ities, January  27, 1863. 

M.  L.  Andrews,  enlisted  January  8,  1862,  Co.  H,  13th  C.  V.  Discharged,  disabilities. 
May  30,  1862. 

Philo  Andrews,  enlisted  December  21,  1862,  Co.  H,  13th  C.  V.  Wounded,  Septem- 
ber 19,  1864,  Winchester,  Va.     Died,  December  23,  1864. 

Wallace  W.  Smith,  enlisted  December  6,  1861,  Co.  I,  13th  C.  V.  Wounded  and 
captured,  September  19,  1864,  Winchester,  Va.    Discharged,  September  7,  1865. 

John  Tracy,  enlisted  December  17, 1861,  Co.  K,  13th  C.  V.    Deserted,  August  27, 1864. 

Charles  G.  Adams,  enlisted  August  2,  1864,  Co.  A,  14th  C.  V.  Wounded,  August  25, 
1864,  Ream's  Station,  Va.     Deserted,  November  16,  1864. 

Bernard  McGrevor,  enlisted  December  5,  1864,  Co.  B,  14th  C.  V.  Deserted.  August 
21,  1865. 

William  McGrath,  enlisted  August  5,  1863,  Co.  D,  14th  C.  V.  Deserted,  August  22, 
1863. 

Charles  Williams,  enlisted  September  16, 1863,  Co.  D,  14th  C.  V.  Wounded,  Feb- 
ruary 6,  1864,  Morton's  Ford,  Va.,  and  May  19,  1864,  Cassville,  Ga.  Died,  May 
28,  1864. 

John  Cullon,  enlisted  July  25,  1863,  Co.  I,  14th  C.  V.     Deserted,  March  23,  1864. 

Michael  O'Connor,  enlisted  July  23, 1864,  Co.  1, 14th  C.  V.    Deserted,  August  14, 1864. 

Charles  McRay,  enlisted  August  6,  1864,  Co.  I,  14th  C.  V.     Deserted,  August  14, 1864. 

Edward  H.  Mix,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  C,  1st  Artillery.  Promoted  Captain  Co. 
B,  16th  C.  V.    Drowned,  March  8,  1864,  Albemarle  Sound,  N.  C. 

William  Allen,  enlisted  August  26,  1863,  Co.  C,  20th  C.  V.  Deserted,  November  15, 
1864. 

James  Anderson,  enlisted  August  27,  1863,  Co.  E,  20th  C.  V.  Deserted,  October  2, 
1863. 

Theodore  Mansfield,  enlisted  August  25,  1863,  Co.  H,  20th  C.  V.  Deserted,  October 
11, 1863. 

Augustus  Fisher,  enlisted  August  26,  1863,  Co.  K,  20th  C.  V.  Deserted,  September 
14,  1863. 

John  Lewis,  enlisted  August  26, 1863,  Co.  K,  20th  C  V.    Deserted,  August  16,  1864. 

William  Webber,  enlisted  August  23,  1863,  Co.  K,  20th  C.  V.  Deserted,  September 
14,  1863. 

James  Averill,  enlisted  October  10,  1862,  Chaplain  23d  C.  V.  Infantry.  Died.  June 
11,  1863. 

James  A.  Williams,  enlisted  December  30, 1863,  Co.  H,  29th  C.  V.  (col.)  Discharged, 
disabilities,  July  3,  1865. 

John  F.  Brown,  enlisted  February  11,  1864,  Co.  D,  31st  Regt.,  U.  S.  C.  I.  Deserted, 
March  30,  1864. 

Jesse  King,  enlisted  February  11,  1864,  Co.  D,  31st  Regt.,  U.  S.  C.  I.  Deserted,  Feb- 
ruary 29,  1864. 

Thomas  Marts,  enlisted  February  9,  1864,  Co.  D,  31st  Regt.,  U.  S.  C.  I.  Mustered 
out,  November  7,  1865. 

Robert  Short,  enlisted  February  19,  1864,  Co.  D.  31st  Regt.,  U.  S.  C.  I.  Mustered 
out,  November  7,  1865. 

James  E.  Tunnell,  enlisted  February  8, 1864,  Co.  D,  31st  Regt.,  U.  S  C.  I.  Deserted, 
April  12,  1864. 

William  B.  Piatt,  enlisted  December  14,  1861,  musician,  14th  Infantry,  Regular 
Army.    Died,  November  27,  1863. 

Egbert  S.  Bronson,  mustered  in,  January  7,  1865,  Co.  C,  2d  Colored  Infantry.  Dis- 
charged, May  10,  1865. 

Wallace  A.  Bishop,  enlisted  August  21,  1861,  1st  Squadron  C.  V.  Cavalry.  Pro- 
moted Sergeant,  July  1,  1862.     Died,  November  28,  1862. 

Dorence  Atwater,  enlisted  August  19,  1861, 1st  Squadron,  C.  V.  Cavalry.  Captured, 
July  6,  1863,  Hagerstown,  Md.  Exchanged,  February  27,  1865.  Discharged, 
April  21,  1865. 

Charles  H.  Page,  enlisted  December  5, 1861,  Co.  A,  1st  Cavalry.  Promoted  Quarter- 
master-Sergeant, June  1,  1865.     Mustered  out,  August  2,  1865. 

Edwin  A.  French,  enlisted  October  11,  1861,  Co.  A,  1st  Cavalry.  Promoted  Ser- 
geant, September  1,  1864.     Mustered  out,  August  2,  1865. 

William  G.  Renfree,  enlisted  October  11,  1861,  Co.  A,  1st  Cavalry.  Promoted  Ser- 
geant, September  1,  1864.    Mustered  out,  August  2,  1865. 


HOSIKU    OK    SOI.DIKHS.  121 

Levi  H.  Dunbar,  enlisted  October  21.  1861,  Co.  A,  1st  Cavalry.  DiscliarKfeti.  disabil- 
ities, March  17,  1862. 

Samuel  W.  Bevans,  enlisted  November  17.  1861.  Co.  D,  1st  Cavalry.  Discharged, 
December  10,  1862. 

Warren  Briggs,  enlisted  November  17,  1861,  Co.  D,  1st  Cavalry.  Discharged,  dis- 
abilities, July  25,  1862. 

Orville  Bryant,  enlisted  November  17.  1861,  Co.  D,  1st  Cavalry.    Deserted,  March 

1,  1863. 

Ira  Hugh,  enlisted  November  24,  1863,  Co.  E,  1st  Cavalry.     Died,  April  6,  186.5. 

Peter  Jones,  enlisted  August  18,  1864,  Co.  G,  1st  Cavalry.  Promoted  Sergeant, 
January  11,  1865.     Mustered  out,  August  2,  1865. 

Gilbert  C.  Royce,  enlisted  January  4,  1864,  Co.  K,  1st  Cavalry.  Captured,  Novem- 
ber 12,  1864,  Cedar  Creek.      Paroled,  February  5,  1865.     Mustered  out,  August 

2,  1865. 

Henry  Bradley,  enlisted  December  21,  1863.  Promoted  Sergeant,  February  1,  1864, 
Co.  M,  1st  Cavalry.  Accidentally  wounded,  June  10,  1864,  Old  ('hurch,  Va. 
Discharged,  disabilities,  January  10,  1865. 

Lewis  MoUet,  enlisted  July  28,  1862,  2d  Light  Battery.     Deserted,  March  15,  1864. 

William  B.  Atwood,  enlisted  May  23,  1861.  Promoted  Lieutenant,  Co.  B,  1st 
.\rtillery.  May  24,  1865.     Mustered  out,  September  25,  1865. 

Hobart  D.  Bishop,  mustered  January  5,  1864,  Co.  I,  1st  Cavalry.    Died,  June  1,  1865. 

John  B.  Andrews,  enlisted  February  20,  1864,  2d  Light  Battery.  Mustered  out, 
August  9,  1865. 

Hamart  Alexit,  enlisted  August  18,  1864,  Co.  D,  1.5th  C.  V.  Captured,  March  8,  1865, 
Kingston,  N.  C.    Paroled,  March  26,  1865.    Mustered  out,  July  20,  1865. 

Edward  Bux  on,  enlisted  May  23,  1861,  Co.  I,  4th  C.  V.  Mustered  out,  September 
25,  1865. 

James  A.  Beach,  enlisted  August  15,  1862,  Co.  D,  19th  C.  V.  Mustered  out.  June  3, 
1865. 

Henry  Barnes,  enlisted  December  24,  1863,  Co.  C,  2d  Artillery.  Wounded,  Septem- 
ber 22,  1864,  Fisher's  Hill,  Va.     Mustered  out,  August  18,  1865. 

Carlos  Curtis,  enlisted  January  4,  1864,  Co.  D,  2d  Artillery.     Mustered  out,  August 

18,  1865. 

David  Davenport,  enlisted  August  7,  1862,  Co.  D,  2d  Artillery.  Wounded,  Septem- 
ber 19, 1864,  Winchester,  Va.    Died,  October  26,  1864. 

Edwin  Perkins,  enlisted  October  22,  1861,  Co.  C,  10th  C.  V.  Discharged,  October  7, 
1864,  time  expired. 

Charles  W.  Hurlburt,  enlisted  September  13,  1862,  Co.  I,  2.5th  C.  V.  Mustered  out, 
July,  1865. 

Henry  Ploquet,  enlisted  Co.  B,  55th  M.  Infantry  V.   , 

Dennis  P.  Ryan,  enlisted  February  22,  1864,  2d  Light  Battery.  Died.  April  29,  1864, 
New  Orleans. 

Marshall  Smith,  enlisted  October  26, 1861,  Corp.  1st  Cavalry.  Discharged,  Septem- 
ber, 1862. 

Henry  D.  Hunt,  enlisted  September  13,  1862,  Co.  I.  25th  C.  V.  Mustered  out, 
August  26,  1863. 

Edward  L.  Hurlburt,  enlisted  October  3,  1862,  Co.  D,  1st  Battery.  Captured, 
August  18,  1864,  Petersburg,  Va.    Died  of  starvation  in  Andersonville,  Ga. 

A.  Martensen,  enlisted  August  13,  1861,  Co.  D,  2d  N.  Y.  Cavalry.  Promoted  2d 
Lieutenant.    Killed,  June  7,  1863. 

Legrand  Todd,  enlisted  October  9,  1861,  Co.  I,  9th  C.  V.    Died,  October  1,  1862. 

Willis  T.  Richardson,  enlisted  July  23,  1864,  Co.  A,  2d  Artillery.  Discharged,  Feb- 
ruary 4,  1865. 

John  Droham,  enlisted  August  25,  1863,  Co.  G,  20th  C.  V.  Deserted,  September  9, 
1863. 

William  Clark,  enlisted  August  25,  1863,  Co.  G,  20th  C.  V.  Deserted,  November  24, 
1864. 

George  Clark,  enlisted  August  25, 1863,  Co.  G.  20th  C.  V.    Deserted,  October  1,  1863. 

William  Cooper,  enlisted  November  17,  1864.  Co.  I,  17th  C.  V.    Mustered  out.  July 

19,  1865. 

Frank  W.  Mix,  enlisted  3d  Michigan  Cavalry,  served  eleven  months.  Promoted 
Captain,  4th  Michigan  Cavalry.  Promoted  Major,  for  gallantry  at  battle  of 
Stone  River. 


122  HISTORY    OF    PI.YMOUTM. 

Ambrose  A.  Curtis,  enlisted  September  13,  1862,  Co.  I,  25th  C.  V.  Discharged, 
August  26,  1863. 

Henry  L.  Blakeslee,  19th  Regt.  Mich.  Vol.  Killed,  March  5,  1863,  Franklin,  Tenn. 
Was  buried  on  the  field.    Age,  24. 

William  R.  Guernsey,  enlisted  May  23,  1861.  Co.  I,  1st  Artillery.  Promoted  Cor- 
poral, November  24,  1862.  Sergeant,  February  1,  1863.  Quartermaster-Ser- 
geant, May  5,  1863.  2d  Lieutenant,  April  14,  1864.  1st  Lieutenant,  December 
10,  1864.     Discharged,  September  25,  1865. 

Samuel  A.  Starr,  enlisted  Hartford,  Co.  I,  1st  Regt.,  H.  A.,  C.  V.  Enlisted  Middle- 
town,  Co.  E.  5th  Regt.,  C.  V. 

Charles  L.  Beach,  enlisted  New  Haven,  Co.  C,  15th  Regt.  C.  V. 

H.  H.  Foster,  enlisted  Glastonbury,  Co.  H,  13th  Regt.  C.  V. 

Henry  Prindle,  enlisted  Winchester.  Co.  C,  H.   A. 


CHAPTER     \'  1 1 1 


THE    PLIBLIC    SCHOOI-S. 


How  They  Were  Conducted  in  Early  Times— The  Cost  Borne  by  an  Assessment  on 
Each  Parent,  "Who  was  also  Required  to  Furnish  Cord  Wood  and  Board  the 
Teacher  a  Certain  Time— Anecdotes  Told  About  the  Old  Instructors— Half  of 
the  Present  Town  Taxes  Spent  on  Education. 

IN  educational  lines  Plymouth  compares  favorably  with  other 
towns  of  its  size.  The  writer  was  unable  to  learn  when 
the  first  school  was  established,  or  the  date  of  the  division  of  the 
town  into  school  districts.  The  expenses  were  defrayed  in  these 
early  times  by  an  assessment  on  each  parent  of  the  per  diem 
cost,  proportionate  to  the  aggregate  attendance,  thus  practically 
offering  a  premium  for  non-attendance.  In  addition  to  the 
above,  each  parent  was  required  to  board  the  teacher  a  certain 
number  of  days,  and  also  in  some  districts  to  furnish  a  specified 
amount  of  wood  "for  each  scholar,  fitted  for  the  fire." 
Whether  the  latter  phrase  applied  to  the  wood  or  to  the  scholar, 
was  not  stated.  In  severe  weather  it  was  estimated  that  the 
amoimt  usually  consumed  was  not  far  from  a  cord  a  week.  The 
wood  was  left  in  the  road  near  the  house,  so  that  it  was  often 
buried  in  the  snow  or  wet  with  rain.  At  best  it  was  always 
burnt  green.  No  stoves  added  to  the  comfort  of  the  pupils ; 
what  warmth  they  had  was  derived  from  a  large  open  fire-place. 

A  statute  passed  in  1799,  recognized  the  existence  at  that 
time  of  a  "school  society  "  which  controlled  the  schools.  The 
provisions  of  the  law  were  in  many  respects  like  those  in  force  at 
the  present  time,  though  the  language  is  quaint,  reading,  "the 
school  society  shall  appoint  a  suitable  number  of  persons,  not 
exceeding  nine — of  competent  skill  in  letters  to  be  overseers — to 
examine  teachers,  to  superintend  and  direct  the  introduction  of 
youth  in  letters,  religion,  morals  and  manners,  to  direct  the 
daily  reading  of  the  Bible,  to  recommend  the  master  to  conclude 
the  exercise  of  each  dav  with  prayer,"  etc. 

The  number  of  districts  into  which  the  town  was  finally 
divided  was  fourteen,  each  with  its  solitary  school  house  and 
single  school  room  in  which  was  conducted  a  mixed  school. 
The  first  district  comprised  Plymouth  Center,  the  school  house 
standing  near  the  present  one.  No.  2  was  Plymouth  Hollow — 
now  Thomaston — the  house  standing  on  what  is  now  the  park. 


124  mSlORV    OF    PLVMOUril. 

No.  3  was  located  at  Walnut  Hill,  west  of  Thomaston.  No.  4 
was  composed  of  the  villages  of  the  woolen  niill  and  knife  shop, 
and  the  house  stood  near  Fred  Warner's.  No.  5  was  south  of 
the  center  and  the  house  was  near  Baldwin's  mill.  No.  6  was 
called  Ii'eland,  Hoadleyville— now  Graystone — some  miles  south 
of  Terryville,  and  the  house  was  near  the  Hoadley  clock  shop. 
No.  7  was  Todd  Hollow,  southeast  of  the  center,  and  the  house 
was  near  the  residence  of  H.  J.  Cleveland.  No.  8  was  Indian 
Heaven — -now  AUentown — and  comprised  the  territory  around 
"  Jack's  Cave  "  in  the  extreme  southeast  part  of  the  town.  No.  9 
was  Town  Hill — the  originally  intended  centei — lying  one  mile 
southwest  of  Terryville,  and  the  house  was  near  the  former 
residence  of  Jared  Blakeslee,  now  owned  by  a  Mr.  O'Donnell. 
No.  10  was  Terryville,  and  the  house  was  near  the  present 
school  buildings,  a  long,  low,  single  room  building  painted  red, 
accommodating  the  territory  now  filling  six  departments  at  an 
expense  to  the  town  of  $3,300.  No.  11  was  the  East  Plymouth 
house,  situated  in  a  lonely,  isolated  location,  west  of  the  hamlet. 
No.  12  was  northwest  of  Terryville,  and  the  house  was  near  the 
residence  of  Elam  Camp,  now  belonging  to  Hilo  Holt.  No.  13 
was  north  of  the  Center,  now  annexed  to  old  No.  12,  and  the 
house  was  near  the  residence  of  Eli  Potter,  now  occupied  by 
C.  B.  Baldwin.     No.  14  was  the  Woolen  Mill,  set  oft" from  No.  4. 

The  school  rooms,  even  in  the  villages,  sixty  years  ago,  were 
without  even  an  apology  for  modern  school  room  seats  and  desks. 
On  three  sides  of  the  room  were  continuous  slab  or  plank 
benches  over  which  the  girls  as  well  as  the  boys  were  obliged  to 
swing  their  feet  whenever  necessary  to  use  the  desk.  The 
instructor's  desk  occupied  the  center.  On  this  desk  was 
stationed  a  rod  or  ferule;  sometimes  both.  These,  witii  books, 
writings,  ink  stands,  rules  and  plummets,  with  a  fire  shovel  and 
a  pair  of  tongs,  were  the  principal  furniture.  One  side  of  the 
entry  furnished  a  place  of  deposit  for  the  hats  and  spare  clothes 
of  the  boys.  The  girls  generally  carried  their  bonnets,  etc.,  into 
the  school  room.  The  ventilation  was  as  much  neglected  as  its 
temperature ;  and  its  cleanliness  more  than  either.  In  summer 
the  floor  was  washed  once  in  two  or  three  weeks. 

The  winter  school  usually  opened  about  the  first  of  Decem- 
ber, and  continued  from  twelve  to  sixteen  weeks.  The  summer 
school  opened  about  the  first  of  May.  Men  weie  uniformly 
employed  in  winter  and  women  in  summer.  A  strong  prejudice 
existed  against  employing  the  same  instructor  more  than  once  or 
twice  in  the  same  district.  Good  moral  chaiacter  and  a  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  the  common  branches  were  considered  as 
indispensable  qualifications  in  an  instructor.  In  general,  the 
candidate  was  some  favorite  or  relative  of  the  district  committee, 
and  the  moral  character  of  almost  every  instructor  was  unexcep- 
tionable. 

Instructors  usually  boarded  in  the  families  of  the  pupils. 
Their  compensation  varied  from  seven  to  twelve  dollars  a  month 
for  men  and  from  sixty-two  and  a  half  cents  to  one  dollar  a  week 
for  women.     One  young  ladv  who  taught  over  thirty  terms  in 


THE     I'lin.K     SCHOOLS.  12^ 

the  same  district,  began  her  career  as  teacher  on  the  niunilicent 
sum  ol"  one  dollar  per  week  and  boarded  herself. 

None  of  the  natives  "to  the  manner  born"  have  ever 
become  professional  teachers,  though  some  were  noted  lor  their 
success.  Of  these  "l-ncle"  Abel  Welton  and  his  brother, 
"Uncle"  Ben,  were  prominent.  Most  of  them  took  up  the 
business  as  a  makeshift  for  present  benefit.  Rev.  John  Doolittle 
taught  for  a  time  to  aid  in  liis  college  career.  Others,  doubtless, 
by  their  labors  in  this  line,  left  their  impress  on  the  minds  of 
those  who  have  since  become  conspicuous  in  other  capacities. 

The  schools  in  the  earlier  days  were  under  the  control  of  a 
board  of  school  visitors,  who  were  required  to  visit  and  examine 
the  schools  twice  during  each  term.  The  duty  was  sometimes 
performed  in  one  afternoon — coming  in  at  the  commencement  oi 
the  session,  tarrying  for  an  hour,  and  after  taking  a  short  walk, 
return  for  the  second  visit.  In  summer  their  visits  were  often 
omitted.  Their  visits  were  spent  in  hearing  a  few  hurried 
lessons,  and  in  making  some  remarks,  general  in  their  character. 
Writing  and  spelling  were  leading  studies  every  dav,  and  on 
Saturday  the  Old  i\.sseml)ly  Catechism,  in  the  Congregational 
order  and  the  Episcopal  order,  were  regularly  lepeated. 
Webster's  spelling  book,  the  American  Preceptor,  and  the  New 
Testament  were  the  principal  books  used.  Arithmetic  was 
taught  by  a  few  instructors  one  or  two  evenings  in  a  week. 
Before  Webster's  school  books  appeared,  Dilworth's  "New 
Guide  to  the  English  Tongue,"  Fisher's  "Instructor,  or  Young 
Man's  Best  Companion,"  were  the  chief  books  used  in  the 
colonies.  Webster  had  tact  in  discerning  the  wants  of  the 
country  in  his  day,  and  providing  for  them  in  his  spelling  book. 
There  have  been  few  moral  lessons  productive  of  the  same  efl'ect 
in  the  country,  as  the  famous  old  fable  of  the  "  Boy  that  Stole 
Apples,"  and  who  sits,  in  the  old  woodcut,  alarmingly  exposed 
astride  of  a  branch  of  a  tree,  almost  naked  of  foliage,  while  the 
farmer  in  small  clothes,  one  arm  akimbo,  the  other  in  a  most 
striking  attitude,  takes  aim  at  the  young  "  sauce-box."  Then 
there  is  that  forsaken  "country  maid  and  her  milk  pail,"  teach- 
ing the  double  lesson  of  the  vanity  of  human  expectations  and 
the  follv  of  unnecessary  grief;  that  chickens  are  not  to  be 
counted  before  the}'  are  hatched,  or  milk  to  be  wept  over  after  it 
is  spilt.  The  story,  too,  of  the  "boy  that  went  to  the  wood  to 
look  for  birds'  nests  when  he  should  have  gone  to  school,"  and 
the  description  of  a  good  boy  and  of  a  bad  boy,  not  forgetting 
the  wonderful  tale  of  "  proverbs,  counsels  and  maxims,"  all  in 
words  of  one  syllable,  taxing  the  wisdom  of  nations  and  the 
strong  old  Saxon  power  of  the  English  language;  all  sound 
lessons,  calculated  to  make  honest  men  and  ingenious  Benjamin 
Franklins.  In  teaching  the  alphabet  it  is  customarv  for  the 
instructor  to  take  his  seat,  and  point  to  the  letters  precisely  in 
the  order  in  which  they  are  placed  in  the  book.  A,  B,  C,  &c. 
If  the  pupil  could  name  the  letter  immediatelv,  it  was  well,  if 
not,    he    was   told   it.      After  going   through    fiom    A   to    Z,   the 


136  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

double   letters   were   also  taught.     Sometimes   the   process  was 
inverted  ;   beginning  at  the  bottom  and  ending  at  A, 

To  teach  spelling,  a  lesson  was  assigned,  consisting  of  a 
certain  number  of  columns  of  words  arranged  in  alphabetical 
order,  as  the  words  of  our  spelling  books  are,  which  the  jDupil 
was  requested  to  study  over  and  over,  until  he  could  recollect 
and  spell  them  from  memory.  In  this  wa}-  one  word  suggested 
by  association  the  next;  the  second,  the  third  ;  and  so  on.  No 
faculty  was  called  into  exercise  but  the  memory.  If  a  woid  was 
mis-spelled,  the  next  pupil  who  could  spell  it  was  allowed  to 
take  his  place,  or  "go  above  him,"  as  it  was  called.  He  who 
was  at  the  head  of  class  at  evening  had  a  credit  mark  and  some- 
times a  written  certificate  of  good  scholarship. 

In  teaching  reading  the  process  was  equally  mechanical. 
The  instructor  generally  read  the  first  verse  or  paragraph,  and 
sometimes  I'ead  with  them  in  his  turn.  The  instructor,  or  the 
pupil  at  the  head,  made  the  corrections.  These  extended  no 
farther  than  the  right  pronunciation  of  the  words,  and  a  meas- 
ured attention  to  the  pauses.  "Read  as  you  talk,"  was  a  rule 
seldom  given,  and  still  less  frequently  reduced  to  practice.  It 
was  customary  to  read  the  Testament  and  Preceptor  (the  princi- 
pal reading  books),  generally  in  course.  There  were,  however, 
certain  days  of  the  week  on  which  selected  pieces  were  read. 
These  consisted  of  an  oration,  and  perhaps  a  dialogue,  with 
some  of  the  more  difficult  poetry.  When  visitors  called,  the\' 
were  commonly  required  to  read  these  selections,  which  they 
had  learned  almost  by  heart. 

New  beginners  in  writing  usually  had  a  copy  of  straight 
marks.  Over  the  top  of  the  next  page  the  master  wrote  "  avoid 
alluring  company,"  in  large  hand,  which  the  pupil  was  required 
to  imitate.  A  page  a  day,  that  is,  one-eighth  of  a  common  sheet 
of  foolscap  paper,  was  their  task  in  writing.  The  pupil's  copy 
was  usually  in  alphabetical  order,  and  during  the  first  year, 
almost  wholly  of  coarse  hand,  ruled  (for  all  were  required  to 
rule)  from  one-fourth  to  half  an  inch  wide.  Engraved  copy 
slips  instead  of  written  ones  were  sometimes  used. 

When  arithmetic  was  taught  in  the  evenings,  the  instructor 
usually  wrote  sums  for  the  pupil  on  a  slate,  which  he  was 
required  to  work.     Daboll  arithmetics  were  used  as  guides. 

The  order  of  exercises  for  the  day  was  usually  as  follows: 
From  nine  o'clock  a.  m.,  to  fifteen  minutes  past  nine,  the 
instructor  came  to  the  door  with  a  large  ferule,  and  struck 
several  times  on  the  door  post  as  a  signal  for  opening  the  scliool. 
Such  pupils  as  were  present  came  in,  and  either  took  their  seats 
or  crowded  round  the  fire.  Those  of  the  first  class  who  were 
present,  read  in  the  Testament.  The  lesson  consisted  of  from 
two  to  four  chapters,  according  to  their  length.  The  time 
usually  allotted  to  this  exercise  was  from  twenty  to  thirty 
minutes,  or  until  most  of  the  pupils  had  arrived. 

When  this  exercise  closed,  writing  was  attended  to.  In  the 
winter,  copies  and  pens  were  to  be  prepared,  ink  to  be  thawed 
and  watered,  and  numbers  wished  to  go  to  the  fire  at  once.      In 


THE    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  12'] 

the  midst  of  all  this,  the  secoiul  class  generally  took  their  Testa- 
ment for  reading.  VV'hile  the  second  and  third  classes  were 
reading  the  instructor  nsually  furnished  copies  and  pens,  and 
assigned  the  spelling  lessons  for  the  forenoon.  Those  who  were 
able  to,  read  a  few  sentences  of  some  of  the  easy  lessons  in  the 
spelling  book,  wdiile  others  merely  read  over  the  words  of  the 
spelling  lesson. 

At  about  half-past  ten  the  welcome  sound  "  you  may  go 
out"  was  heard.  Everyone  made  his  long  "obeisance,"  and 
was  immediately  in  the  streets,  but  in  from  five  to  ten  minutes 
the  loud  rap  brought  them  to  the  place  of  obeisance,  and  ulti- 
mately to  their  seats  again.  The  two  sexes  went  out  separately. 
The  rest  of  the  forenoon  was  spent  chiefly  in  spelling.  The 
school  closed  at  twelve  o'clock.  At  the  usual  signal,  "  school 
dismissed,"  a  scene  of  confusion  commenced.  But  at  all  other 
times  they  usually  went  out  in  good  order.  In  the  afternoon  the 
rap  on  the  door  summoned  them  at  once.  The  American  Pre- 
ceptor was  then  read  for  nearly  half  an  hour  by  the  first  class, 
and  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  by  the  second.  Writing  went  on 
again,  simultaneously  with  the  reading  of  the  second  and  smaller 
classes. 

When  the  course  of  lessons  was  finished,  a  short  recess  was 
allowed  as  in  the  forenoon.  On  coming  in  from  recess  or  inter- 
mission, it  was  customary  to  have  a  pail  of  water  and  cup  stand 
by  the  door.  It  was  rarely  "  handed  round,"  but  every  one 
helped  himself.  On  coming  in  from  the  afternoon  recess,  the 
classes  were  all  exercised  in  their  spelling  lessons  again,  begin- 
ning with  the  youngest.  After  spelling,  the  pauses,  abbrevia- 
tions, numerals,  etc.,  were  recited.  In  addition  to  these  the 
instructor  usually  had  a  set  of  written  questions,  embracing  the 
time  when  many  remarkable  events  happened,  the  various  occur- 
rences, tables  of  distances,  weight,  measure,  etc.  The  first  class 
and  sometimes  the  second,  were  required  to  answer  these  daily 
until  they  were  perfectly  familiar.  The  older  classes  were 
required  to  commit  the  introduction  to  the  spelling  book  to 
memory. 

A  table  of  words  spelled  differently,  but  pronounced  alike, 
was  quite  often  a  favorite  table  with  most  instructors.  It  con- 
sisted of  four  pages  of  the  si^elling  book.  It  was  usuallv  studied 
until  many  of  the  pupils  could  read  it  from  beginning  to  end. 
But  teachers  were  never  known  to  require  pupils  to  apply  it. 
The  exercises  of  the  day  were  usually  closed  by  calling  the  roll 
or  catalogue  of  pupils,  by  announcing  the  name  of  the  scholar 
whose  turn  it  was  to  make  the  fire  in  the  morning,  and  by  giving 
positive  orders  for  every  pupil  to  "go  straight  home,  and  be 
civil  with  everybody  he  might  meet  with."  Once  a  week  the 
writers  were  required  to  write  each  a  line  for  examination. 
They  were  then  numbered  according  to  their  excellence.  He 
whose  line  was  No.  i  was  allowed  to  have  first  choice  among 
the  seats;  No.  2  the  second,  and  soon.  About  once  a  week 
they  were  allowed  to  choose  sides  for  spelling,  which  naturally 
took  up  about  half  the  afternoon.     The  side  or  party  who  mis- 


128 


IIISTORV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Pequabuck  Scliool  House 


Tcrr\  \  ilk'   Inslituti 


SCHOOLS    OK    I'l.YMOU'lII.  I  2() 

spelled  the  smallest  number  of  words  was  declaietl  to  have  beat; 
and  thev  usually  manifested  much  triumph. 

Requiring  the  teachers  to  "board  around"  was  productive 
of  much  amusement,  as  well  as  some  unpleasant  experiences. 
Lyman  D.  Baldwin  relates  that  he  was  once  boarding  with  a 
family  that  had  seen  better  days,  but  felt  that  the  next  best  thing 
to  the  fact  was  keeping  up  appearances.  Consequently  the  best 
the  house  aflbrded  was  produced  each  day,  much  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  one  little  fellow,  who,  at  the  table  exclaimed  to  his  elder 
brother  in  his  peculiar  drawling  tone:  "•  vS-a-y — Bill — don't- 
w-e  1-i-v-e  g-o-o-d  w-h-e-n  Air.  Baldwin  is  h-e-r-e.'" 

The  change  in  tiie  law — taxing  the  towns  for  support  of 
schools,  instead  of  individual  parents,  was  made  in  18^4,  since 
which  time  Plymouth  schools  have  material! v  improved.  The 
people  have  generously  added  to  the  appropriation  for  schools 
until  now  it  amounts  to  over  $6,000  out  of  a  total  of  about 
$13,000  raised  by  tax  for  all  purposes.  The  fourteen  original 
departments  in  the  town  have  increased  to  fifteen  in  the  present 
town  of  Plymouth,  and  fourteen  in  Thomaston,  which  was  taken 
from  Plymouth  in  1S75.  The  cost  of  the  schools  in  what  was 
the  old  town,  is  now  about  $13,000.  The  amount  received  from 
public  funds  (presumably  the  income  of  the  school  fund)  in 
1842 — the  earliest  record  obtainable,  was  $709.80.  In  1845  the 
income  of  the  town  deposit  fund  was  divided  equally  between 
the  districts. 

The  following  anecdote  of  the  old  gentlemen  Welton, 
Uncle  Abel  and  his  brother,  is  told  by  an  old  resident  of 
PIvmouth  :  "  Both  were  teaching,  and  Uncle  A.  was  visiting 
Uncle  B.'s  school.  He  had  his  scholars  classified,  the  bright 
ones  by  themselves,  also  the  dullards,  giving  most  of  his  time  to 
the  bright  ones.  At  the  close  of  the  session  Uncle  A.  said, 
'  Ben,  vou  are  not  doing  right  bv  those  dull  boys ;  some  of  them, 
if  cared  for,  will  be  as  good  scholars  as  you  have.'  '  That's  not 
so,'  said  Ben,  '  The  fact  is,  the  >:Vlmighty  never  intended  those 
fellows  to  know  anything,  and  I  am  not  going  to  try  to  dis- 
appoint Him.'  " 

SCHOOL    DISTRICT     NO.     I. 

The  first  school  building  of  Plymouth  that  can  be  called  to 
mind  was  a  one  storv  structure  situated  on  the  same  site  where 
the  present  school  house  stands,  west  of  Plymouth  green.  The 
desks  in  the  old  building  were  set  next  to  the  wall  with  the 
pupils'  backs  towards  the  teacher.  There  were  at  that  time 
about  sixtv  pupils.  The  present  building  was  erected  in  i<'^49. 
The  high  school  is  taught  bv  Miss  Bessie  M.  Turner  of  North- 
field,  who  has  accomplished  some  good  work  since  her  engage- 
ment.     Miss  Turner  is  a  graduate  of  Mount  Plolyoke. 

Mis';  Anna  M  Trumbull  of  Litchfield  has  charge  of  the 
intermediate  class,  which  occupies  the  second  story  of  the  Con- 
gregational lecture  building.  This  building  was  at  one  time 
used  as  a  winter  academv,  and  at  another  time  for  a  school  room 


130  IlISTOKV    OK    PJA'.MOUTJI. 

by  the  Hart  Female  Seminary,  which  also  occupied  the  house 
where  William  W.  Bull  now  lives.  Miss  Alice  A.  Woolsey  of 
Milford  has  charge  of  the  primary  department  and  occupies  part 
of  the  main  school  building  with  the  high  school.  Miss  Wool- 
sey and  Miss  Trumbull  are  both  graduates  of  the  Normal  School 
of  New  Britain.  The  school  committee  are  George  Langdon, 
Mrs.  Clarence  Beardsley,  Fraidc  Blakeslee. 


SCHOOL    DISTRICT     NO.     2. 

The  first  recorded  sale  of  land  to  the  Tenth  School  District  of 
the  first  vSchool  Society  of  Plymouth  is  shown  to  be  in  1827, 
when  Allen  Bunnell  sold  a  piece  of  land  for  the  sum  of  $5,  on 
which  the  old  school  house  stood  that  was  burned  between  1S40 
and  1S45.  When  Rev.  Merrill  Richardson  first  came  to  Terry- 
ville  this  old  red  building  was  in  use,  with  nothing  to  commend 
it  except  space  and  air.  Tliis  was  the  only  place  for  evening 
meetings,  singing  schools,  etc.  He  soon  commenced  talking  to 
his  people  about  a  new  and  more  commodious  building,  and 
several  meetings  were  held  to  talk  the  matter  over,  which  were 
of  course  held  in  the  old  school  house.  A  few  hours  after  one 
of  these  meetings  the  cry  of  fire  was  heard,  and  the  old  structure 
was  in  flames.  The  people  flocked  to  it  with  pails  of  water,  but 
the  water  had  no  effect,  and  it  was  doubtful  whether  a  drop 
reached  the  flame.  The  people  were  exhorted  not  to  injure 
themselves  with  over  exertion,  and  not  a  person  suffered  in  con- 
sequence. One  and  another  asked,  "How  did  it  take  fire.^" 
and  some  of  the  leading  men  were  seen  to  nudge  each  other  and 
look  askance  at  Mr.  Richardson,  as  much  as  to  say,  "Perhaps 
he  could  tell."  It  was  never  known  how  the  building  took  fire. 
While  there  was  no  mourning  there,  and  a  great  deal  of  joking, 
it  was  never  believed  to  be  the  work  of  an  incendiary.  The 
second  sale  of  land  to  this  district  is  recorded  as  occurring  March 
8,  1845,  by  which  sale  Mr.  Bunnell  received  the  sum  of  $ii^o. 
His  next  sale  was  made  April  26,  1849,  to  the  Terry ville  Insti- 
tute of  Terryville,  by  which  society  the  main  building  of  the 
present  school  house  was  built,  and  was  afterwards  leased  to  the 
Second  School  District  of  Plymouth  for  999  years.  Many  im- 
provements have  been  made  on  the  buildings  and  grounds  since 
the  lease  was  obtained.  The  place  is  heated  bv  the  vSmead  hot 
air  system,  which  makes  it  a  comfortable  place  of  study  for  the 
150  scholars  who  attend  there.  The  Pequabuck  school  is  also 
in  the  Second  School  District,  and  has  on  an  average  from  vear 
to  year  about  twenty  scholars,  who  are  now  taught  by  Miss 
Anna  Haas  of  Terrvville.  The  present  school  committee  are 
W.  L.  Norton,  George  F.  Carr  and  Stephen  D.  Purrington, 
and  the  school  visitors  are  A.  S.  Gavlord,  William  Clemence, 
Rev.  Dr.  Gav,  Fred  A.  Scott  and  Judah  W.  Clark  of  Terrvville 
and  A.  W.  Welton,  M.  W.  Leach,  H.  E.  Stoughton  and  L  D. 
Baldwin  of  Plvmouth.  The  course  of  studies  in  these  schools 
has    been    greatlv  improved    bv  the    hard    work    and    thoiough 


SCHOOLS    OI-'    I'LVMOUTH.  131 

methods  used  by  the  present  pruicipal,  Fred  Howard  Davis,  of 
Lyons,  N.  Y.,  who  has  had  charge  the  past  two  years.  Mr. 
Davis  was  prepared  for  college  at  the  Academy  of  Canandaigua, 
N.  v.,  in  the  class  of '87,  and  graduated  from  Ilamilton  College, 
Clinton,  N.  Y.,  class  of '93. 

The  High  school  has  thirty-three  scholars,  an  increase  dur- 
ing the  past  year  of  from  sixty-five  to  seventy-five  per  cent. 

The  (Jrammar  school  has  twenty-five  scholars,  and  is  taught 
by  Miss  Margaret  Pinney  of  Hloomlield. 

Mrs.  Emma  Clark  of  Terryville  has  charge  of  the  interme- 
diate department,  and  has  about  thirty-five  scholars.  Miss  Mav 
Bunnell  of  Terryville  has  thirty-five  pupils  in  the  primarv 
department. 

The  village  has  the  reputation  of  producing  more  scholars 
fitted  for  college  than  any  other  village  of  its  size  in  the  state. 

Jane  K.  Johnson  is  said  to  have  taught  a  longer  period  than 
any  teacher  since  the  school  was  established,  serving  twentv-four 
terms  in  different  departments. 

The  kindergarten  department  is  presided  over  by  Miss 
Edith  Scott  of  Glens  Falls,  N.  Y.,  and  has  about  thirty  pupils. 
The  object  of  this  training  is  to  develop  the  various  faculties  of 
the  child's  mind,  to  put  it  in  working  possession  of  all  its  pow- 
ers, rather  than  to  impart  general  information.  The  child  is 
here  taken  through  progressive  periods  of  phvsical  and  mental 
development  with  a  view  to  stimulate  independent  thought  bv 
means  of  independent  action  on  its  own  part. 

Elocution  is  another  improved  feature  of  this  school,  as  each 
pupil  is  required  to  give  one  rhetorical  exercise  as  often  as  once 
a  month,  and  once  in  six  weeks  in  the  High  school  for  general 
rhetoric. 


Centennial   Celebration 


OF    THE 


TOWN   OF 


^PLYMOUTH* 


CONNECTICUT, 


-V       -Jj 


MAY  14  AND  I5,   1895. 


c  II  A  F  r  I-:  R  1  x 


C  E  NT E  \  X I A  L     CE  T,  K  li  1{  A  P I  OX . 


Preliminary  Meetings  Held  and  Plans  Perfected  for  the  Celebration  of  the 
Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Town  of  Plymouth— Complete  Account  of  the 
Exercises,  Including  the  Speeches  of  Judge  A.  P.  Bradstreet  and  Other 
Orators  of  the  Day. 

THE  first  step  towards  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  incor- 
poration of  the  town  of  Plymouth  was  taken  at  the  annual 
town  meeting  holden  at  Terryville,  October  3,  1S92.  On  motion 
of  George  Langdon  it  was  voted:  "That  the  selectmen  be 
directed  to  appoint  a  committee  of  three  to  inquire  into  the 
matter  of  a  celebration  of  the  Centennial  of  the  town's  organiza- 
tion in  1S95,  and  report  to  the  next  annual  meeting.'' 

In  accordance  with  that  vote,  on  December  6,  1892.  the 
selectmen  appointed  E.  L,  Pond.  George  Langdon  and  J.  C. 
Fenn  a  committee  to  consider  the  advisability  of  holding  a  cen- 
tennial celebration  in  1S95,  and  report  at  the  next  town  meeting. 

At  the  annual  town  meeting  held  October  2,  1S93,  the  fol- 
lowing report  was  submitted  : 

"  The  committee  appointed  by  the  selectmen  to  iiKiuire  into  the  matter  of 
celebrating  the  centennial  of  the  town  in  1895,  beg  leave  to  report  as  follows: 

"We  believe  that  a  public  celebration  to  commemorate  the  One  Hundredtli 
Anniversary  of  the  town's  existence,  carefully  and  wisely  conducted,  could  not 
be  other  than  a  success.  To  gather  the  scattered  fragments  of  its  history  into 
tangible  form  and  arrange  a  programme  suital)le  for  the  occasion  calls  for 
energetic  work  and  an  expenditure  of  money.  Hut  if  entered  into  by  all  goad 
citizens  with  the  enthusiasm  and  disposition  to  help  which  the  occasion  would 
demand,  we  believe  it  could  be  made  not  only  instructive  but  of  permanent  value. 
We  therefore  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolution  : 

"  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  by  the  selectmen  to 
arrange  forapuijjic  celebration  of  the  One  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  town  in 
1S95,  and  that  a  suitalile  appropriation  be  made  to  defray  tlie  expense  of  the 
same." 

KdCAR    I,.    I'ONl),  \ 

CiKdKGE  Lanodon,        -  Coiiiiiiittee. 
Jason  C.  Fenn,  ) 

This  resolution  was  accepted  and  it  was  moved  and  voted 
that  the  sum  of  $100  be  appropriated  to  defray  expenses. 


136  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

October  13,  1S93,  the  selectmen  appointed  Edgar  L.  Pond, 
George  Langdon  and  Jason  C.  Fenn  a  committee  on  the  cen- 
tennial celebration.  ^Messrs.  Pond  and  Langdon  declined  to 
serve,  and  Richard  Baldwin  and  Byron  Tuttle  were  appointed 
to  fill  the  vacancies. 

On  [une  7,  1894,  the  committee  asked  that  the  selectmen 
appoint  additional  members,  and  proposed  the  names  of  B.  B. 
vSatterlee,  George  Langdon,  B.  J.  Holt,  A.  C.  Bunnell,  Walter 
F.  Tolles,  Abel  S.  Beardsley,  James  Terry,  E.  S.  Beach,  A.  W, 
Welton,  H.  G.  Bnrr  and  Charles  S.  vSmith.  which  names  were 
approved  by  the  selectmen. 

The  centennial  committee  met  in  Terryville,  June  23,  1S94, 
and  elected  permanent  officers.  The  meeting  was  called  to 
order  by  Jason  C.  Fenn.  Byron  Tuttle  was  elected  chairman, 
Richard  Baldwin  first  vice  chairman,  George  Langdon  second 
vice  chairman.  Jason  C.  Fenn  secretary,  Jonathan  Starr  treasurer. 

Committee  on  Invitation. — George  Langdon,  Jason  C. 
Fenn,  Abel  S.  Beardsley  (resigned),  Charles  S.  Smith,  Arthur 
C.  Bunnell. 

Committee  on  Oration  and  Addresses — Byron  Tuttle,  Abel 
vS.  Beardsley  (resigned),  Richard  Baldwin. 

Committee  on  Loan  Exhibition. — James  Terry,  A.  W.  Wel- 
ton, Arthur  C.  Bunnell,  Richard  Baldwin,  B.  B.  Satterlee, 
B.   J.  Holt,  also  the  board  of  selectmen. 

Voted,  That  the  day  of  celebrating  be  the  third  Wednesday 
of  May,  1S95. 

J"(>tt\!\  That  the  loan  exhibition  remain  open  through  the 
week. 

]\>ft'ii\  That  the  matter  of  inviting  the  original  towns  be 
referred  to  the  committee  on  invitations. 

Voted.  To  appoint  a  musical  committee  ;  and  Henry  G. 
Burr,  Carlisle  H.  B  del  win,  Charles  H.  J^eardsley  and  Otis  B. 
Hough  be  that  committee. 

Voted,  That  the  committee  on  the  different  committees  be 
empowered  to  fill  vacancies. 

l\/ted,   That  the  clerk  notify  each  member  of  his  election. 

At  the  annual  town  meeting  in  Plymouth  Center,  October 
I,  1894,  '^  ^^^  voted  that  the  town  appropiiate  for  the  use  of  the 
centennial  committee  a  sum  not  to  exceed  $300,  to  be  audited 
and  approved  by  the  selectmen 

The  second  meeting  of  the  centennial  commii;tee  was  held 
October  i^,  1S94,  at  the  Town  Clerk's  office  in  Terryville.  The 
meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Byron  Tuttle,  president. 

It  was  moved  that  the  meeting  May  15.  1S95,  be  on  Ply- 
mouth Hill.  Moved  to  amend  by  striking  out  Plymouth  Hill 
and  insert  Terryville.  An  informal  ballot  was  called  for  on  the 
amendment,  which  stood  eight  to  eight.  A  formal  vote  on  the 
question  w^as  taken,  and  decided  to  hold  the  celebration  in  Terry- 
ville, twelve  to  four.  An  attempt  to  make  the  vote  unanimous 
w^as  unsuccessful. 

Voted,  To  appoint  a  committee  of  three  to  investigate 
souvenir  spoons  and  decide  on  some  design. 


CKNTHN'MAI.     C  K  I.KI5M  A  I  lo  \.  I37 

lason  C.  Fenii,  i^icliard  IJaldwin  and  Abel  S.  l^eaidslev 
(resigned)  were  appointc'd  and  iec|ue.stcd  to  rcpoit  to  next 
meeting. 

]Vlatter  of  committee  on  entertainment  was  deterred. 

Committee  on  tents  and  accommodation  was  appointed  as 
follows:     E.  S.  lieach,  Jason  C.  Fenn,  A.  C,  Bunnell. 

It  was  suggested  that  next  meeting  be  in  the  evening  at  Ply- 
mouth Center  at  call  of  secretary. 

Charles  S.  Smith  was  appointed  by  committee  on  invitation 
to  see  to  sending  out  notices. 

The  third  meeting  of  the  centennial  committee  was  held  at 
the  office  of  Bvron  Tutile,  Esq.,  November  23,  1S94. 

Votccl^  That  a  committee  of  six  ladies  be  appointed,  three 
from  each  village,  thev  to  appoint  any  person  they  mav  choose 
for  chairman,  also  to  appoint  such  sub-committee  as  they  may 
see  fit,  to  provide  entertainment  for  invited  guests. 

I'offd,  That  Mrs.  George  Langdon,  Mrs.  Edwin  AI.  Tal- 
madge  and  Mrs.  Bennett  H.  Sutlifl'  be  the  committee  for  Ply- 
mouth Center. 

Voted^  That  E.  S.  Beach  consult  with  Terryville  committee 
and  furnish  names  of  three  Terryville  ladies  to  the  clerk  to  act 
on  this  committee  on  entertainment,  and  that  he  call  the  first 
meeting. 

Vofi\i\  That  a  sub-committee  of  three  be  appointed  to 
investigate  arrangements  for  feeding  others  than  invited  guests. 

J'oh'J.  Jason  C.  Fenn,  Bvron  Tuttle,  Edward  S.  Beach,  be 
that  committee. 

]^otc(f^  That  this  meeting  recommend  to  the  committee  on 
orations  and  addresses  and  the  musical  committee,  the  matter  of 
public  centennial  exercises,  Tuesday  evening,  IMa}'  i^,  at  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Plymouth  Center,  and  report  to  next 
meeting  of  this  committee,  which  is  to  be  at  Town  Clerk's  office, 
Terryville,  at  call  of  president  and  clerk. 

As  proposed  at  last  meeting,  E.  S.  Beach  reported  to  the 
clerk  the  names  of  three  Terryville  ladies  to  act  with  the  ladies 
from  Plvinouth  Center  on  the  entertainment  committee,  namely: 
Mrs.  Richard  Baldwin,  Mrs.  Elvira  Rouse,  Mrs.  Judah  W. 
Clark,  and  the  clerk  called  them  to  meet  November  27,  at 
Terryville,  at  which  meeting  Airs.  Elvira  Rouse  was  chosen 
president  and  Mrs.  R.  Baldwin  secretarw 

At  a  meeting  at  Town  Clerk's  office  December  6,  1894,  it 
was  voted  to  add  two  to  the  committee  on  invitations.  Andrew 
S.  Gavlord  and  Byron  Tuttle  were  appointed. 

VoteJ,  That  the  centennial  committee  on  orations  and 
addresses,  with  the  music  committee,  be  instructed  to  provide  for 
the  opening  exercises  of  the  centennial  celebration  at  the  Con- 
gregational Church,  Plymouth  Center,  Tuesday  evening,  Ma}' 
14.  Meeting  adjourned  to  Monday  evening,  December  10,  1S94, 
at  office  of  Bvron  Tuttle.  At  this  meeting  the  committee 
listened  to  a  plan  submitted  in  person  by  Francis  Atwater,  ot 
Aleriden,  Conn.,  pertaining  to  a  souvenir  book,  and  it  was 

Voted ^  That  this  committee  authorize  Francis  Atwater  to  prepare 


138  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

and  execute  a  souvenir  of  the  celebration  to  be  held  in  Plymouth 
May  15,  said  souv-enir  to  be  in  pamphlet  form  containing  histori- 
cal and  other  matter,  also  pictures  suitable  to  the  occasion.  In 
consideration  of  the  presentation  of  1,000  copies  free  to  this 
committee,  it  is  agreed  that  no  other  publication  in  conflict  with 
this  will  be  authorized. 

VoteJ^  That  the  secretary  be  instructed  to  draw  up  card  of 
invitation  and  present  it  to  next  meeting. 

Meeting  at  oftice  of  Byron  Tuttle,  January  22,  1S95,  it  was 
voted  to  add  to  the  committee  on  orations  and  addresses  Edgar 
L.  Pond,  George  Langdon,  Henrv  E.  Stoughton,  George  C. 
Clark.  Abel  S.  Beardsley  having  declined  to  serve,  his  name  is 
to  be  dropped  from  this  committee. 

Voted^  That  Bela  B.  Satterlee  be  appointed  a  special  com- 
mittee to  furnish  Francis  Atwater  with  material  for  the  centennial 
souvenii . 

]"oteJ^  To  add  the  names  of  eight  ladies  to  the  committee  on 
loan  exhibition,  namely  :  Miss  Anna  Talmadge,  Airs.  L.  H. 
Ploucquet  (who  resigned).  Miss  Nellie  Langdon,  Mrs.  Juliett  B. 
Atwood  (who  resigned),  for  Plymouth  Center;  Miss  May 
Clark,  Miss  Minnie  C  Bates,  Miss  Gertrude  Ells,  Miss  Laura 
Grannis,  for  Terryville. 

Meeting  February  11,  1S95,  at  oftice  of  Byron  Tuttle.  It 
was  voted  to  invite  the  selectmen  of  the  town  of  Watertown  and 
Thomaston  to  appoint  a  committee  to  unite  and  co-operate  with 
Plymouth  in  the  centennial  celebration. 

]\)ted^  Mrs.  Arthur  M.  Gordon  (resigned),  and  Mrs.  Oscar 

D.  Beach  as  membeis  of  the  loan  committee. 

March  9,  189^,  Watertown  replied  that  they  had  received 
the  invitation  and  had  appointed  H.  F.  Davis,  H.  T.  Dayton 
and  C.  B  Mattoon  a  committee  to  co-operate  with  us.  Thomas- 
ton  also  reported  that  they  had  accepted  and  had  appointed  a 
committee.      Waterbury  was  also  invited  but  did  not  respond. 

Meeting  at  Town  Clerk's  oftice  March  9,  it  was  voted  to 
have  steel  engraved  invitations,  and  order  150  with  envelopes 
(later  order  was  increased  to  ^^oo).  Wording  was  also  adopted. 
Dinner  cards  were  agreed  upon  at  this  meeting,  also  price  flfty 
cents  for  souvenir  book. 

Meeting  March  16,   H.  E.  Stoughton,  Edgar  L.  Pond  and 

E.  C.  Goodwin  were  appointed  on  the  general  executive  com- 
mittee, as  Abel  Beardslev,  Arthur  C.  Bunnell  and  B.  J.  Holt 
were  unable  to  serve.  E.  Clavton  Goodwin  was  elected  chair- 
man on  tents  and  accommodations.  Z.  F.  Grannis  and  Henry  E. 
Hinman  were  added  to  this  committee. 

Miss  Mav  Minor  and  Miss  Lilla  Markham  were  appointed 
on  loan  committee,  Mrs.  Gordon,  Ploucquet  and  Atwood  having 
resigned. 

At  a  meeting  held  April  15,  Edgar  L.  Pond,  George  Lang- 
don and  Henrv  E.  Hinman  were  appointed  auditors.  Richard 
Baldwin,  J.  C.  Fenn  and  E.  M.  Talmadge  were  appointed  to 
take  charge  of  sale  of  spoons.        The    musical    committee    were 


CKNTEWIAL     fE  1. 1-,I!I{  A  I  lOX  .  I39 

allowed  $300  lor  general  expenses,  and  v$^(j  to  <;el  up  a  niiisicale 
in  Congregational  Church  at  Terr\  ville. 

April  29,  lulgar  L.  Pond  was  appointed  presiding  otlicer  oi' 
the  entire  exercises,  both  evening  and  day.  A  request  was  made 
that  six  special  constables  be  appointed.  Andrew  S.  Gaylord 
was  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  sale  of  books.  George 
Langdon  and  Jason  C.  I'^enn  were  appointed  to  take  charge  of 
registration 

The  following  progianinie  was  ado])ted  for  the  exercises  of 
the  celebration  : 

The  exercises  (;n  Tuesday  evening,  May  14,  commenced 
shortly  after  eight  o'clock  in  the  Congregational  Church  on  Ply- 
mouth Hill.  The  edifice  was  profusely  decorated  and  a  large 
black  shield  with  the  dates  "  1795"  1895  "  in  gilt,  hung  high  upon 
the  wall  back  of  the  platform. 

At  6.30  the  lamps  hat!  been  lighted,  and  seats  filled  rapidly 
for  the  purpose  of  witnessing  the  first  scene  in  an  historical 
event.  The  church  walls  soon  enclosed  a  vast  and  interested 
audience,  stated  by  one,  who  claimed  to  have  counted  them,  to 
number  nearlv  700.  At  any  rate  the  church  was  crowded — 
densely  packed  to  the  doors.  Men  and  women,  natives  of  the 
old  town  who  had  spent  their  lives  in  faraway  states  and  had 
wantlered  to  all  parts  of  the  earth,  returned  to  pay  a  fitting 
tribute  to  the  founders  of  the  town  and  to  help  in  celebrating  its 
one  hundredth  birthday. 

The  soft  light  shed  its  rays  upon  yoimg  men  and  women 
just  on  the  threshold  of  life,  full  of  vigor,  and  animation,  who 
had  come  to  join  in  the  celebration  ;  upon  the  o!der  and  more 
sedate  members  of  the  community  who  had  tasted  the  first  fruits 
of  life's  successes  and  failures,  and  upon  the  gray  hairs  of  grand- 
fathers and  grandmothers  who,  though  past  the  zenith  of  life  and 
now  on  the  downward  plane,  had  come  to  renew  their  youth  for 
a  brief  period  in  recollections  and  reminiscences  of  the  past. 

Six  pieces  from  Colt's  orchestra  of  Hartford,  and  Mrs.  W. 
H.  Sparks  as  pianiste,  fiu'nished  the  instrumental  music,  while 
the  melody  from  the  chorus  of  100  voices  rolled  forth  under  the 
magic  apple  tree  wand  in  the  hands  of  Director  Baldwin.  The 
music  soared  to  the  summit  then  dropped  to  the  softest  depths, 
but  always  in  perfect  time,  now  falling,  now  rising,  and  thunder- 
ing out  over  the  audience  until  the  selection  was  finished  and  the 
last  chords  were  lost  in  rounds  of  applause.  Then  must  the 
tiresome  work  of  rehearsals  have  been  amply  paid  for  in  the 
satisfaction  that  they — each  and  every  one — had  been  the  means 
of  giving  pleasure  and  winning  such  approbation. 

When  every  one  was  seated  and  the  musicians  were  ready 
George  Langdon  stepped  upon  the  platform  and  spoke  as  follows  : 

The  chairman  of  the  committee  having  charge  of  this  Cen- 
tennial Celebration  has  requested  me  to  call  your  attention  to 
three  things  :  First,  that  applause  be  done  only  by  clapping  of 
hands  :  second,  that  vou  put  on  vour  glorification  spectacles  and 
think  that  Plvmouth  is  larger  than  the  state,  larger  than  the 
nation  ;    yes,   larger  than    the   empires  of  the    world,   for  a   few 


140  HISTORY     OK    Pr.YiMOLl'lH. 

hours,  tor  the  sake  of  broadening  the  horizon  of  our  lives,  anil 
making  us  to  think  that  even  a  little  country  town  in  a  hundred 
years  can  reach  out  to  the  furthermost  parts  ot  the  earth  ;  and  to 
encourage  those  who  are  younger  in  life  to  feel  that  life  means 
something,  even  here  in  an  ordinary  New  England  town. 
Therefore  by  music,  by  speakers,  by  the  illustrated  printed  page, 
your  committee  have  endeavored  to  lead  you  in  this  way  to 
glorify  Plymouth  for  the  sake  of  honest,  true,  manly  pride.  We 
also  ask  you  to  register  yoiu'  names,  all  of  you.  You  will  find  a 
register  in  the  porch  to-night,  and  on  the  morrow  you  will  find 
one  in  the  post  office  here,  and  at  Terry ville  to-morrow  at  some 
place  to  be  made  known  to  you.  The  further  announcement  I 
have  to  make  is  that  the  committee  have  unanimously  elected 
Edgar  L.  Pond  as  chairman  of  these  Centennial  services  ;  a  true 
son  of  Plymouth.  His  father  was  a  Plymouth  man,  his  grand- 
father was  a  Plymouth  man,  and  his  great-grandfather  came  to 
Plymouth.  My  friends,  he  has  not  only  got  a  good  ancestry, 
but  has  got  a  good  record. 

One  thing  more.  This  mallet  was  made  from  an  apple  tree 
that  was  planted  by  Rev.  Mr.  Todd,  the  first  minister  in  this 
town  of  Plymouth,  on  Town  Hill.  It  is  to  be  sent  to  one  of  the 
descendants  of  Mr.  Todd.  I  thought  it  might  be  pleasing  to 
you  to  know  this  incident.  The  leader  of  the  music  has  some- 
thing from  the  same  tree,  which  will  give  inspiration  for  these 
good  friends  who  are  to  lead  us  to-night.  I  therefore  for  the 
committee  give  these  exercises  into  tne  hands  of  Mr.  Pond. 

E.  L.  Pond — The  duty  of  a  presiding  officer,  as  I  under- 
stand it,  especially  upon  an  occasion  like  this,  is  not  to  talk,  but 
rather  to  so  direct  that  others  may  have  an.  opportunity.  We 
thiidv  it  is  about  time.      We  will  proceed  to  the  programme. 

"Unfold  Ye  Portals,"  from  "The  Redemption"  (Gounod), 
bv  the  Centennial  Chorus. 

Reading  of  the  90th  Psalm  by  Rev.  Wm.  Alfred  Gay,  D.  D., 
who  offered  prayer  as  follows  : 

"Almighty  God,  our  heavenly  Fathei-,  to-night  as  we  come 
before  Thee  we  thank  Thee  for  the  record  of  the  hundred  years 
whose  completion  we  meet  here  to  celebrate.  We  thank  Thee, 
our  heavenly  Father,  that  Thou  art  the  God  of  communities; 
that  Thou,  who  boldest  the  nations  in  the  hollow  of  Thy  hand, 
takest  an  interest  in  all  the  humble  affairs  of  every  community. 
O  God,  we  come  here  to-night  to  rejoice,  and  we  would  rejoice 
in  Thy  presence.  We  thank  Thee,  our  Father,  for  the  many 
noble  characters  which  have  been  developed  in  the  town  of  Ply- 
mouth within  the  last  century.  We  thank  Thee  that  so  many 
influences  have  gone  out  from  this  little  corner  of  the  American 
Republic  to  bless  and  to  assist  the  multitudes  of  this  land. 

We  rejoice,  our  Father,  that  we  are  permitted  to  enter 
upon  this  glad  celebration,  but  we  desire  to  implore  Thy  bless- 
ing upon  us,  even  as  Thou  hast  been  with  us  during  these 
hundred  vears.  Vouchsafe  Thy  blessing,  we  pray  Thee,  and 
Thy  benediction,  not  only  upon  all  the  exercises  of  this  evening, 
l"»ut  upon  all  the  services  of  this  week.      Grant,  Almighty  God, 


CENTKN  N I A  I.     CE  LK 1!  K  Al"  I  ON  . 


141 


in  this  sanctuary,  in  this  community,  where  Thou  hast  so  often 
revealed  Thy  power,  tliat  in  these  exercises  we  may  glorify  Thv 
great  and  holy  Name. 

The  Lord  bless  us  in  our  singing,  the  Lord  guide  us  in 
the  instrumental  music,  the  Lord  be  with  us  in  the  addiesses  and 
in  the  reminiscences  which  may  be  given  to  us  from  time  to  time, 
and  as  we  shall  separate  and  go  to  our  homes  far  and  wide,  as 
well  as  in  this  locality,  may  we  realize  that  we  have  obtained 
from  these  exercises  new  inspiration  for  the  duties  of  life.  And 
to  the  Father,  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit  shall  be  all  the  praise, 
through  Christ  our  Redeemer.     Amen." 

Rev,  C.  IL  Smith  made  the  address  of  welcome,  and  spoke 
as  follows  : 

"Mr.  Chairman,  Friends,  Fellow-Citizens  and  returning 
Wanderers  from  the  Four  Qj^iarters  of  the  Earth  :  One  of  the 
precious  memories  that  is  dear  to  every  loyal  son  of  New 
England  is  the  recollection  of  the  great  festal  days,  when  the 
Thanksgiving  season  comes  round.  The  dear  old  mother  in  the 
home  was  many  days  before  preparing  for  it.  The  brick  oven 
was  heated,  the  toothsome  dainties  were  prepared,  and  when  the 
auspicious  morning  had  arrived  and  the  children  returned,  she 
stood  at  the  doorway  with  the  silver  already  upon  her  brow. 
She  clasped  the  hand;  they  kissed  her  withered  cheek,  and  it 
was  the  sweetest  of  all  the  things  of  the  year — the  gieat  home- 
gathering  of  the  children  in  the  father's  and  mother's  house. 
So,  to-night,  in  a  certain  sense  you  come  here,  returning  like 
children.  Plymouth  has  upon  her  brow  the  silver  of  a  century, 
and  it  has  been  entrusted  to  me  by  the  committee  to  extend  to 
you  the  w^ord  of  welcome  ;  to  give  you  the  friendly  salutation,  to 
extend  to  you  the  kindly  benediction,  that  in  the  services  of  this 
hour  you  may  rejoice  with  us  in  the  mercy  of  God  through  the 
century,  and  in  the  loving  kindness  that  has  been  in  the  hearts 
of  men  for  all  these  years. 

We  bid  you  then  first  of  all  welcome  to  this  edifice,  to  the 
church  of  which  it  is  the  property — a  church  that  antedates  the 
civic  life  of  the  commvmity  for  more  than  half  a  century — for  our 
church  is  not  a  hundred  years  old,  but  it  is  15=^  years  old 
to-night  and  has  been  for  seven  days.  I  welcome  you  on  behalf 
of  all  these  sacred  and  holy  influences  ;  because  of  what  the 
Church  of  God  has  been  in  this  community  in  the  century  past. 
At  this  altar  the  children  received  the  hand  of  benediction  ; 
before  this  altar  there  stood  the  noble  man  and  the  fair  maid,  as 
their  lives  were  united  and  they  went  out  into  the  world  and  to 
its  battles;  here  wn'thin  these  walls  have  lain  in  silent  state  some 
of  those  who  were  very  precious  to  3'our  hearts.  In  behalf,  then, 
of  all  the  godlv  memories  that  your  hearts  are  cherishing  this 
hour,  I  welcome  you. 

I  bid  you  welcome,  to-night,  also  to  the  homes  of  this 
people,  to  the  houses  of  this  community.  There  are  tender 
associations  for  some  of  you  in  them.  As  you  return  to  the  old 
home  you  will  tread  the  threshold  that  was  worn  by  impatient 
feet  as  vou  ruslied  out  to  \nur  ]olay.      Von  will  look  again  on  the 


14-  niSTOR'i'     OK    PJ.VMOLJ'l  II. 

old  apple  tree,  covered  to-night  with  its  wonderful  crown  of 
snowtiakes,  and  you  will  think:  "•  I  never  had  such  apples  as 
those  1  ate  when  I  was  a  boy."  We  welcome  you,  then,  to  the 
homes  that  were  dear;  are  dear  still  to  you. 

We  also  welcome  you  to  our  hills  and  valleys.  Well  may 
this  beautiful  valley  of  ours  be  called  the  Switzerland  of  New 
England.  Many  a  noble  son  has  gone  forth  from  this  community 
with  high  aspirations  because  of  the  voice  of  Nature  that 
sounded  in  his  ears.  As  he  looked  out  over  the  hilltop  and 
down  into  the  valley,  the  pointing  spires  of  the  hills  seemed  to 
lead  his  soul  nearer  to  God,  and  the  music  of  the  rivulet  and  the 
rill  and  the  river,  as  it  went  on  with  its  sweet  harmony  to  the 
sea,  sang  in  his  heart  some  message  of  the  love  of  the  eternal 
Father.  I  want,  then,  in  welcoming  }  ou  back  to-night  to  bid 
you  remember  the  hill  and  the  valley  :  that  it  extends  its  arms  to 
you,  all  Nature  bidding  you  welcome. 

And  certainly  we  should  be  recreant  to  the  beautiful  and 
illustrious  history  of  the  past,  did  we  not  also  bid  you  welcome 
in  behalf  of  the  sacred  city  of  our  dead.  It  is  certainly  no  word 
of  derogation  to  the  sons  that  now  live,  to  say  that  of  the  noble 
men  and  saintly  women  who  walked  these  streets  in  days  gone 
by,  and  whose  ashes  rest  in  God's  Acre,  there  were  none  nobler, 
none  truer,  none  more  faithful  to  their  duty,  to  their  trust,  to 
God.  So  to-night,  with  the  sacred  memories  of  the  fathers  rest- 
ing upon  you,  I  bid  you  welcome. 

We  extend  to-night — this  town  of  Plymouth — the  hand  of 
welcome  to  our  mother  and  grandmother,  I  think  we  ought  to 
call  her,  the  fair  Qiieen  City  of  our  Naugatuck  Valley,  the 
shimmer  of  whose  product  with  its  light  of  gold  encircles  the 
world — we  extend  to-night  the  hand  of  welcome  to  her  who  was 
for  a  little  time  our  mother — the  town  of  Watertown  and  her 
citizens. 

We  won't  forget  also  to  welcome  our  baby,  and  are  glad 
to  see  she  has  come  back,  got  to  be  a  pretty  good-sized  child — 
Thomaston — you  are  likely  to  get  to  be  bigger  than  we  are,  we 
hope  vou  will  be  as  good,  but  we  know  you  never  will. 

We  remember  to-night  that  from  this  community  of  ours 
have  gone  out  into  the  broad  earth,  to  the  westward,  northward, 
southward  and  eastward,  the  brave  sons  and  fair  daughters,  who 
have  proved  themselves  true  to  their  noble  ancestry;  who  have 
proved  themselves  true  to  the  fair  past  of  this  community,  and  as 
their  thought  comes  back  to  us  and  as  some  of  them  return  to  us 
from  hillside  and  plain,  we  bid  them  to-night  welcome.  Friends, 
one  and   all,  in  the  name  of  the  committee  I  bid  you  welcome." 

Mr.  Pond — About  twenty  years  ago  this  old  town  of 
Plymouth,  whose  one  hundredtii  anniversary  we  are  now  cele- 
brating, met  with  a  great  accident.  At  a  certain  point  about 
half  way  up  the  hill  from  Thomaston — I  suppose  climbing  the 
hill  wore  on  the  people  to  that  extent  that  it  could  hold  out  no 
longer,  and  although  the  good  people  on  the  hill  tried  in  every 
way  to  hold  the  town  together,  they  finally  had  to  yield  to  the 
inevitable  and  it  broke  in  two  at  that  point,  leaving  Thomaston 


ciiNi  i;nmai.    celebra'I'iox.  143 

a  full-tlcHlgecl  town  of  her  own.  We  congratulate  our  friends  in 
the  valley  upon  the  success  that  has  attended  their  lahors  in 
endeavoring  to  govern  themsehes.  But  to-night  we  would  pre- 
fer to  remove  that  stone  which  marks  the  boundary  line — we 
would  sus[)end  the  rules,  so  to  speak,  for  the  next  twenty-four 
hours,  and  prefer  that  the  line  should  be  as  it  was  ceded  to  us 
from  VVatertown  one  hundred  years  ago.  We  believe  that  the 
Thomaston  people  woultl  gladly  accede  to  this  request,  for  they 
certainly  have  shown  sympathy  with  the  management  in  this 
Centennial  Celebration.  We  note  that  their  singers  are  seated 
by  the  side  of  those  of  Plymouth  and  Tenyville  in  this  chorus, 
and  I  see  before  me  many  men  who  if  they  were  called  upon  to 
vote  in  the  room  below,  as  they  did  in  t'ormer  years,  would  be 
obliged  to  climb  up  the  hill  in  order  to  cast  their  ballot.  But 
more  than  this,  we  have  called  upon  one  of  'J'homaston's  most 
distinguished  citizens  to  prepare  for  us  the  principal  address  of 
the  evening.  You  will  note  upon  your  programme  the  address 
"Manufacturing  and  its  Progress,"  and  I  have  the  pleasure  of 
introducing  as  the  speaker.  Judge  Albert  P.  Bradstreet,  of 
Thomaston.  ^ 

Jiidgt;  Bradstreet  then  delivered  the  following  interesting  and 
instructive  address,  which  should  be  read  by  everyone  interested 
in  the  history  of  manufacturing  in  Plymouth  or  Thomaston,  who 
had  not  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  its  delivery,  as  it  contains  a 
vast  amount  of  information  unknown,  or  at  least  unrealized,  by 
many  : 

"Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  The  led  man 
ground  his  corn  in  a  mortar  and  cut  the  poles  for  his  wigwam, 
and  timber  for  his  canoe  with  his  rudely  fashioned  axe  of  stone. 
His  wants  never  outran  his  necessities,  and  his  necessities  were 
satisfied  with  the  requirements  of  a  simple  subsistence.  His 
white  successor  landed  upon  the  shore  of  New  England  275 
years  ago  with  unbroken  centuries  of  civilized  life  and  refine- 
ment beiiind  him  and  the  promptings  within  him  of  an  ambition 
to  make  the  most  of  his  surroundings  and  to  rise  as  far  as  lay 
within  his  power  in  the  scale  of  humanity.  To  care  for  the 
body,  to  cultivate  the  mind  and  prepare  the  soul  for  eternity, 
were  all  objects  to  him  of  deep  solicitude. 

The  early  settlers  of  the  town  of  Plymouth  whose  one 
hundredth  birthday  we  now  commemorate  were,  as  far  as  we 
can  gather,  men  of  this  same  general  stamp.  Thev  vielded 
obedience  to  law  and  homage  to  God.  They  identified  them- 
selves with  everv  measure  that  made  for  the  welfaie  of  societv, 
and  studied  the  general  interests  of  the  communities  in  which 
thev  lived.  The  eailv  settlers  of  this  town  must  have  been 
endowed  with  considerable  mechanical  ingenuitv  for  that  period, 
and  a  natural  aptitude  for  manufacturing  as  attested  b}'  the  large 
number  of  interests  which  in  a  small  way  were  planted  in 
different  parts  of  the  town. 

Possiblv  the  rugged  nature  of  the  soil  compelled  them  to 
seek   otiier  methods  of  livelihood   and   tuitied  their  attention  to 


144  lIlSrOKV    OK    PI.NMOUTII. 

the  numerous  small  streams  as  agencies  which  the\'  could  enlist 
in  their  support. 

In  addition  to  this,  moreover,  was  the  general  feeling 
strongly  implanted  in  their  breasts  of  indepentlence  in  every 
sense  of  the  word  from  the  mother  countrv. 

The  war  of  the  revolution  had  onlv  a  few  years  before 
terminated  which  released  them  from  British  thraldom  from  a 
governmental  standpoint,  and  it  was  natural  that  independence 
in  every  conceivable  ramification  should  have  animated  their 
purpose.  It  is  interesting  in  this  connection  to  note  that  in  iSo8, 
in  the  tenth  congress,  in  the  last  moments  of  the  session,  when  all 
business  was  over,  William  Bibb  of  Georgia,  moved  that  the 
members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  would  appear  at  their 
next  meeting  clothed  in  the  manufactures  of  their  own  country. 
A  spirited  debate  arose  over  this  motion  and  it  appearing  that 
considerable  warmth  was  likel}'  to  be  engendered  upon  a  matter 
which  was  really  foreign  to  the  business  of  the  session,  the 
motion  was  withdrawn  without  being  pressed  to  a  vote. 

In  the  large  cities  the  people  formed  associations  which  thev 
called  societies  for  the  encouragement  of  domestic  manufactures. 
Each  man  and  woman  who  joined  one  of  these  was  pledged  to 
wear  no  garment  of  which  the  raw  material  was  not  grown  and 
the  fabric  made  within  the  boundaries  of  the  United  States. 
The  State  legislatures  of  the  various  states  took  up  the  subject. 
The  House  of  Representatives  of  Pennsylvania  passed  a  resolu- 
tion declaring  it  to  be  the  duty  of  everv  citizen  to  encourage 
domestic  manufactures  of  this  country,  and  that  members  should 
come  to  the  next  session  clothed  in  goods  of  American  make. 
In  Kentucky  Henry  Clav  was  the  mover  of  a  similar  resolution 
which  Humphrey  Marshall  designated  as  the  trick  of  a  dema- 
gogue. For  this  he  was  called  out,  a  duel  fought  and  both  he 
and  Clav  were  slightlv  wounded. 

In  November  of  the  same  vear  Thomas  Jefferson,  President 
of  the  United  States,  desirous  of  appearing  at  the  White  House 
on  New  Vears  day  with  a  suit  of  clothes  of  American  manufac- 
ture sent  the  Collector  of  Customs  of  New  Haven  the  following 
order : 

'  Homespun  is  become  the  s]iirit  of  the  times.  I  think  it  a  useful  one,  tiiere- 
fore  that  it  is  a  duty  to  encourage  it  by  example.  The  best  fine  clcth  made  in 
the  United  States  I  am  told  is  at  the  manufactory  of  Col.  Hum]i]ireys.  .Send  me 
enough  for  a  suit.' — .l/r.l/'asft'r^s  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States. 

Col.  Humphrevs  alluded  to  in  this  order  had  been  an  Aide 
of  Washington  and  a  representative  of  this  Government  to  the 
Court  of  Spain,  and  while  there,  conceived  the  idea  of  importing 
into  this  countrv  the  fine  merino  sheep  for  their  superior  wool. 
The  sheep  about  1S02  came  into  the  coimtrv,  some  of  them  find- 
ing their  way  to  Watertown.  Col.  Himiphrevs  established  a 
W(')olen  mill  at  the  present  town  of  Sevmour,  then  known  as 
Humohrevsville.  The  General  Court  of  Connecticut  appointed 
a  committee  to  examine  the  experiment  of  Humphrevs  and 
report.      The  report  was  so  flattering  that  the  legislature  thanked 


CENTENNIAL     CELl.HHA  TIOX.  1 45 

him  for  h'n,  patriotic  etlbrts,  excniptctl  his  mills  from  taxation  ior 
ten  years,  and  his  workmen  and  apprentices  from  poll  taxes, 
road  taxes  and  service  in  the  militia. 

The  grist  mill  and  saw  mill  were  the  natural  pioneers  in  the 
new  settlement,  as  at  that  time  the  grain  was  ground  at  Farm- 
ington  and  the  lumber  which  went  into  the  construction  of  their 
buildings  was  sawed  in  the  Farmington  mills  and  transported  to 
the  new  settlement.  To  save  this  expense  numerous  grist  and 
saw  mills  were  erected  in  diflbrent  parts  of  the  new  town  as 
needs  of  the  people  required. 

The  first  grist  mill  in  the  settlement  of  Northbury  was  built 
l)y  John  Sutlitf,  about  1730,  just  north  of  the  present  Terry's 
Bridge.  Air.  Sutlitf  came  from  Branford  to  Northbury  the  year 
just  mentioned.  In  his  will,  which  was  admitted  to  probate  in 
Woodbury,  November  6,  1752,  he  provided  that  this  mill 
property  should  go  to  his  two  sons,  John,  Jr.  and  Abel,  reserv- 
ing to  his  widow,  Hannah,  one-third  part  of  the  profit  of  the  toll 
of  the  mill  during  her  life. 

John,  Jr.  lived  on  the  site  of  Wm.  ^V.  Leigh's  present 
residence.  He  bought  out  Abel's  interest  in  the  mill  property 
afterwards,  and  in  his  will,  which  was  probated  at  VVaterbury, 
March  3,  1790,  he  demised  one-third  part  of  the  grist  and  saw 
mill  to  each  of  his  three  sons,  John,  vSamuel,  and  Daniel. 

John,  the  3d,  lived  where  Edward  Moses'  house  now  stands. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  the  first  industry  of  which 
we  can  get  a  ver}-  clear  record  as  having  been  started  in  Ply- 
mouth proved  to  be  the  one  which  eventuallv  grew  to  be  largest 
in  the  town  and  obtained  the  widest  celebrity.  I  refer  to  the 
business  of  clock  making.  The  inventive  genius  of  Eli  Terry 
coupled  with  the  business  energy  of  Seth  Thomas  prepared  a 
foundation  for  a  business  of  gigantic  proportions  ;  brought  an 
accumulation  of  wealth  to  their  doors  and  crvstallized  their 
names  in  the  two  main  villages  of  the  town  as  Terryville  and 
Thomaston. 

There  were  a  few  clock  makers  in  New  England  prior  to 
1776.  Very  few  American  clocks  however,  can  be  found,  made 
before  this  time.  These  were  made  witn  a  pendulum  forty 
inches  in  length  and  were  only  adapted  to  a  long  case  standing 
on  the  floor  with  a  dial  six  feet  from  the  flooi.  Ver}-  few 
wooden  clocks  were  made  before  1792. 

Eli  Terry,  a  native  of  East  VVmdsor,  now  South  Windsor, 
Conn.,  obtained  a  knowledge  of  clock  making  under  Thomas 
Harland,  a  clock  and  watch  maker  of  Norwich,  Conn.  Mr.  Terry 
made  his  first  wooden  clock  in  1792.  He  came  to  Plymouth  in 
1793  and  entered  upon  the  business  of  making  clocks,  both  of 
"Tvood  and  brass.  He  made  his  first  clocks  by  hand  on  the 
premises  where  William  White's  house  now  stands.  Bvron 
Tuttle  has  in  his  office  at  the  present  time  one  of  the  clocks  built 
there.  His  first  clocks  Iniilt  bv  the  use  of  power  were  made  in  a 
building  where  Riley  Marsh's  now  stands.  The  water  was  con- 
veved  across  the  street  from  Niagara  brook.  The  demand  for 
clocks  at    that  time  was  so  limited  that  onlv  three  or  four  could 


146  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

safely  be  commenced  at  one  time,  and  most  of  these  were  delivered 
to  purchasers  who  had  agreed  in  advance  to  take  them.  These 
clocks  were  transported  on  horseback.  The  case  for  these  was 
obtained  from  cabinet  makers  as  a  separate  part  of  the  clock. 
The  machinery  was  very  scanty,  and  consisted  mainly  of  a  hand 
engine  for  making  the  wheels  similar  to  the  one  used  by  English 
clock  makers  two  hundred  years  earlier.  In  1S03,  Mr.  Terry, 
finding  that  his  clocks  could  be  sold  without  his  delivering  them 
in  person,  made  provision  for  manufacturing  on  a  larger  scale, 
availing  himself  of  additional  machinery  and  water  power.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  making  clocks  by  the  thousand.  The  large 
scale  upon  which  he  began  to  branch  out  exposed  him  to  much 
ridicule,  as  the  wise  ones  said  he  could  never  sell  any  number  of 
them. 

In  December  30,  1S07,  Mr.  Terry  sold  his  water  power  to 
Heman  Clark  who  had  been  his  apprentice  and  purchased  a  water 
power  and  buildings  at  Greystone.  In  1807  he  began  the  making 
of  four  thousand  clocks  on  contract  as  one  vmdertaking.  This 
contract  covered  a  period  of  four  years.  In  1S14  the  short  shelf 
clock  was  devised  by  Mr.  Terry  and  he  began  their  manuAicture 
in  Plvmouth  Hollow  near  Terry's  bridge,  having  formed  a 
partnership  with  his  sons,  Henry  and  Eli.  The  introduction  of 
this  shelf  clock  was  the  real  foundation  of  the  clock  industry  of 
this  country.  Henry  Terry,  son  of  Eli,  continued  the  clock 
making  business  in  this  factory  for  a  number  of  years,  and  then 
began  the  woolen  business  in  the  same  fiictory,  which  he  con- 
ducted for  some  time.      He  died  in  1877- 

In  1824  Eli  Terry,  2d,  built  a  shop  on  the  Pequabuck  where 
the  shop  formerly  owned  and  occupied  by  the  Lewis  Lock  Com- 
pany stood,  which  shop  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1851,  and 
replaced  by  the  present  one.  Mr.  Terry  at  this  time,  twenty- 
five  years  old,  was  the  eldest  of  four  sons  of  Eli  Terry  above 
referred  to.  He  died  in  1841  at  the  age  of  forty-two,  having 
accumulated  by  strict  attention  to  business  a  handsome  property. 
Silas  Burnham  Terry,  a  younger  brother  of  Eli,  2d,  erected  a 
shop  in  1 82 1  for  the  manufacture  of  clocks  at  the  confluence  of 
the  Pequabuck  and  Poland  brooks.  In  1852  he  invented  the 
'  Torsion  Balance  Clock'  designed  for  a  cheap  clock,  and  a  joint 
stock  company  was  formed  to  manufacture  this  clock,  and  a  new 
factory  was  built  near  the  depot.  This  clock  did  not  prove  a 
success  and  the  company  abandoned  the  business. 

In  Chauncev  Jerome's  History  of  the  American  Clock  Busi- 
ness written  in  i860,  he  savs  of  Eli  Terry  the  elder  that  '  he  was 
a  great  man,  a  natural  philosopher  and  almost  an  Eli  Whitney 
in  mechanical  ingenuitv.  If  he  had  turned  his  mind  towards  a 
militarv  profession  he  would  have  made  another  General  Scott; 
or  towards  politics  another  Jeflerson,  or  if  he  had  not  happened 
to  have  gone  to  the  town  of  Plvmouth  I  do  not  believe  there 
would  ever  have  been  a  clock  made  there.' 

Seth  Thomas  commenced  to  manufacture  clocks  in  company 
with  Eli  Terrv  and  Silas  Hoadley  in  1809  at  Greystone.  In  iSio 
Mr.  Terrv  sold  out  his  interest,  Mr.  Thomas  and  Mr.  Hoadle}- 


CENTENNIAL     CELEBRATION.  1 47 

continuing  together  until  1S13,  when  Mr.  Thomas  removed  to 
Plymouth  Hollow  and  began  there  the  manufacture  of  clocks  in 
a  small  building  which  he  purchased  of  Heman  Clark  as  above 
referred  to,  which  Mr.  Clark  had  erected  in  1809.  This  build- 
ing stood  on  the  site  where  the  case  department  of  the  company 
now  stands.  In  1853  the  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Company  was 
organized.  Mr.  Thomas  began  the  industry  in  Plymouth  Hol- 
low with  about  twenty  hands,  settlement  wi'tli  the  operatives  at 
that  time  being  made  once  a  year.  In  the  early  days  of  clock 
making  in  Plymouth,  after  the  industry  obtained  some  magnitude, 
the  clocks  were  drawn  by  horses  to  New  Haven  and  Hartford 
for  shipment  to  ditierent  parts  of  the  country.  All  of  the  lumber"? 
and  materials  for  the  clocks  were  brought  from  these  two  cities.  , 
Mr.  Benjamin  Piatt,  now  living,  began  chiving  team  for  Mr. 
Thomas  in  1834.  He  tells  me  that  frequently  he  had  to  make 
three  trips  a  week  to  New  Haven,  a  greater  part  of  the  time 
driving  six  horses.  The  business  so  successfully  established  bv 
him  over  eighty  years  ago  has  continued  as  the  main  industrv  of 
that  part  of  the  town  ever  since,  employing  in  flourishing  times 
about  1,200  operatives  with  a  monthly  pay  roll  of  about  forty 
thousand  dollars,  and  an  annual  production  of  nearly  one  million 

dollars'  worth  of  goods.     In    1834  Mr.   Thomas  built  a  cottort 

factgi'y  near  the  covered  bridge,  which  was  subsequently  sold  to 
the  clock  company,  and  he  also  built  the  l3ra.ss  ni^ill  near  the 
depot  about  1852  which  is  now  owned  by  the  Plume  &  Atwood  • 
Manufacturing  Company.  He  died  in  1859,  li^ving  left  as  a 
monument  to  his  memory  these  three  large  and  flourishing  insti- 
tutions, themselves  emphatic  witnesses  to  his  indomitable  will 
and  untiring  energy,  and  with  a  reputation  unsurpassed  for  strict 
business  integrity  and  business  honor. 

Chauncey  Jerome,  whom  I  have  quoted,  at  one  time  became 
very  prominent  in  the  clock  business.  He  began  work  w^ith 
Eli  Terry  in  Plymouth  in  1816.  A  year  or  two  later  he  began 
for  himself,  buying  the  movements  and  fitting  up  the  cases  for 
them.  He  removed  to  Bristol  in  1821  and  continued  the  enter- 
prise there.  In  1844  he  went  into  business  in  New  Haven  and 
organized  the  Jerome  Mfg.  Co.,  which  was  finally  succeeded  bv 
the  New  Haven  Clock  Co.  Mr.  Henry  Terry  says  of  Mr. 
Jerome  in  his  Earh'  History  of  American  Clockmaking,  'he  was 
a  man  ol  considerable  enterprise  but  by  misplaced  confidence  in 
other  men  and  by  a  disregard  of  rules  of  safety  in  pecuniary 
transactions  he  became  bereft  of  his  estate.' 

In    1832    Stephen    C.    Bucknell,    a    locksmith,    came    from  • 
England  and  settled  in  Watertown.      After  continuing  in  busi-        S, 
ness  in  a  small  way  for  a  time,  he  sold  out  to  Lewis  McKee  &  ^ 
Co.,    of  Terry ville.     They   moved    the   works    into   a   building 
standing  where  the  plant  of  the  Eagle  Lock  Company  formerly 
stood. 

This  building  was  burned  in  18^9  and  replaced  bv  a  larger 
one.  The  progress  of  this  company  was  slow,  as  the  equipment 
of  machinery  was  crude  and  the  facilities  for  turning  out  and 
marketing  the  goods  were  few.     They  had  no  engine  lathes  for 


I4S  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

years  and  no  plane  for  nearly  thirty  years.  Their  dies  were 
forged  by  hand  and  faced  by  hand  files.  In  disposing  of  their 
goods  they  met  with  difficulties.  Trade  at  that  time  was  almost 
exclusively  in  the  hands  of  importers  and  their  interests  lay  in 
discouraging  American  manufacturers.  In  1841  Mr.  Terry, 
the  president,  died  and  the  concern  was  sold  out  to  John  G. 
Lewis  and  Sereno  Gaylord.  In  1S49  Mr.  Lewis  died,  and  the 
Lewis  Lock  Company  was  formed  to  carry  on  the  business.  In 
the  meantime  William  McKee  &  Co.  had  embarked  in  the  lock 
business  at  Terry ville,  and  sold  out  in  1846  to  James  Terry  and 
W'm.  McKee  under  the  name  of  James  Terry  &  Co.  In  1854  ^^^^ 
two  companies  were  united  under  the  naine  of  the  Eagle  Lock 
Company,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $85,000,  which  has  from  time 
to  time  been  increased  from  the  surplus  until  it  reached  $37^,000. 
This  company  under  the  management  of  James  Terry,  its  first 
president,  became  eminently  successful,  and  from  that  time  to 
the  present  has  been  one  of  the  most  successful  of  Connecticut's 
industries,  reflecting  credit  upon  its  management,  yielding  hand- 
some returns  to  its  stockholders,  and  being  the  mainstay  largely 
of  the  pecuniary  interests  of  the  village. 

Al30ut  1847,  Andrew  Terry,  second  son  of  Eli  Terry,  2d, 
built  the  foundry  near  the  depot  in  Terryville  for  the  manufacture 
of  malleable  iron  castings,  continuing  in  business  alone  until 
i860,  when  he  associated  O.  D.  Hunter  and  the  late  R.  D.  H. 
Allen  with  himself,  and  formed  a  joint  stock  company  with  a 
capital  of  $16,000,  under  the  name  of  Andrew  Terry  &  Co. 
Mr.  Terry  enlisted  in  the  army  in  1861,  leaving  the  management 
of  the  business  to  his  associates,  and  ten  years  later  he  sold  out 
his  interests  in  the  concern  and  went  to  Kansas.  Mr.  N.  Taylor 
Baldwin  and  Mr.  J.  W.  Clark  were  admitted  to  the  company, 
Mr.  Baldwin  retaining  his  connection  with  the  business  until  his 
death,  and  Messrs.  Hunter  and  Clark  still  remaining  in  the 
active  management  of  the  concern.  This  company  has  always 
been  characterized  by  a  conservative  yet  energetic  management 
and  has  proved  very  successful  as  a  business  enterprise. 

In  1863  Eli  Terry,  the  youngest  son  of  Eli  Teny,  2d,  manu- 
factured clock  springs  in  the  shop  near  the  bridge,  built  by 
S.  B.  Terry,  and  shortly  after,  the  Inventors'  Mfg.  Co.  managed 
by  A.  C.  Felton  of  Boston,  with  S.  W.  Valentine  resident  agent, 
bought  the  factory  for  the  manufacture  of  shears.  The  company 
was  not  successful,  and  in  a  short  time  was  wound  up.  Since 
that  time  the  property  has  been  owned  by  William  Wood  and 
used  as  a  shear  factory. 

About  1 86^  the  Eagle  Bit  &  Buckle  Co.  was  formed  for  the 
manufacture  of  harness  trimmings  and  conducted  the  business  in 
the  shop  below  the  depot  originallv  built  for  tlie  clock  business. 
The  U.  S.  Government  soon  after  this  time  threw  upon  the 
market  an  immense  anioimt  of  harness  material  at  such  prices  as 
destroyed  the  market  and  the  company  went  out  of  business. 

A  chair  shop  stood  at  one  time  on  the  east  side  of  the  stream 
near  the  old    upper  lock   shop.      The    dam   was   some  fifty   feet 


CEXTKN  N  I A  I,     CEI,  KI!  k  All  OX  , 


149 


soutli  of  the  present  one  and  the  hiiiUHni^  was  used  later  for  a 
blacking  shop  by  lock  makers. 

l^alph  Fenn  made  chairs,  spinning  wheels  and  reels  in  the 
building  above  alluded  to,  and  many  of  these  articles  are  in 
existence  to-day  branded  '  R.  F.'  About  1S50  a  hammer  shop 
existed  at  Allentown  where  they  made  cast  iron  hammers. 

Timothy  Atwater  was  interested  in  the  business.  The  build- 
ing was  later  destroyed  by  fire.  Nails  in  those  days  were  made 
by  hand,  and  sold  by  coinit.  Jason  C.  Fenn  has  on  exhibition 
at  this  celebration,  the  hammer  used  by  Randall  Matthews,  one 
of  the  old  nail  makers. 

The  house  in  which  Cyrus  P.  Gaylord  now  lives  was  built 
by  his  grandfather  Cyrus  in  1795.  He  also  erected  a  building 
close  bv  the  house  for  spinning  and  weaving  wool,  also  another 
building  for  carding,  fulling  and  dressing  cloth,  which  business 
was  afterward  conducted  by  Sextus  and  Joseph  Gaylord. 

Wool  used  to  be  brought  from  a  long  distance  to  be  treated 
at  this  mill.  The  fulling  process  consisted  of  taking  the  cloth 
after.being  woven  bv  the  women  and  beating  it  in  water  for  two 
or  three  days  In^  machinery  ;  it  was  then  hung  in  the  sun  to  dry 
and  shrink,  thus  making  it  tightly  woven,  then  it  was  colored  an 
indigo  blue  or  black,  after  which  a  nap  was  raised  upon  the  cloth 
bv  the  use  of  teasels,  the  nap  then  being  sheared  smothly  oH'  by 
machinery  and  the  cloth  was  subjected  to  a  heavy  pressure  leav- 
ing; it  smooth  and  finished. 

Cyrus  P.  Gavlord  will  exhibit  at  Terryville  to-morrow  the 
cannon  ball  used  by  his  grandfather  for  giinding  the  indigo,  also 
the  shearing  machine  and  press  irons. 

The  elder  Cyrus  Gaylord  above  alluded  to,  at  one  time  also 
did  carding  in  a  building  near  the  dam  now  standing  on  the 
same  stream  a  short  distance  from  his  house,  Josiah  Kimberly 
at  the  same  time  using  a  part  of  the  building  foi"  a  tannery. 

Somewdiat  later  Mr.  Kimberly  had  a  tannerv  on  the  same 
stream  between  the  grist  mill  and  vStephen  Blake's.  This  tan- 
nery was  afterwards  conducted  by  Eber  Kimberly. 

Horace  Munson  between  1S40  and  iS^o  had  a  sash  and 
blind  factory  on  what  is  now  known  as  the  Stephen  Blake 
property. 

Luman  Preston,  father  of  Junius  Preston,  now  living,  in 
181 5  built  a  carding  machine  and  ran  a  carding  mill  on  the 
premises  afterward  owned  bv  Stephen  Blake.  He  subsequently 
sold  out  the  business  to  Chauncey  Barnes.  In  iSrS  Mr.  Preston 
built  a  grist  mill,  a  little  north  of  the  carding  mill,  which  grist 
mill  has  been  in  operation  ever  since,  now  being  owned  by 
Mr.  Christian  Michael. 

Mrs.  Junius  Preston  relates  that  she  remembers  Mr.  Preston 
wearing  a  queue  which  he  dressed  with  a  ribbon  on  Sundays, 
and  which  always  amused  the  young  people  who  sat  behind  him 
in  church.  He  was  initiated  into  Aurora  Lodge  of  ISIasonr}'  at 
Harwinton  in  181 1  and  was  exalted  to  the  degree  of  Royal  Arch 
Mason  in  18 16. 

Between  sixty  and  seventv  vears  ago  Willis  Hinman  built  a         ^  5l 


150  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

shop  by  the  old  marsh  to  manufacture  clock  cases.  He  subse- 
quently sold  out  the  business  to  Burton  Payne  who  conducted  it 
for  some  time,  he  adding  wagon  building  to  the  industry  for  a 
little  while.  Some  years  later  William  Yale  &  Sons  manufac- 
tured toy  wheelbarrows  at  the  same  plant  for  a  time. 

About  iSio  Gains  Fenn,  uncle  of  Jason  C.  Fenn,  took  out 
a  patent  on  block  tin  faucets,  and  they  were  manufactured  in  a 
two  story  building  on  Town  Hill  which  stood  about  fifty  feet 
south  of  Mr.  Fenn's  present  residence  The  business  was  after- 
wards moved  to  New  Haven  and  thence  to  New  York  where  a 
thriving  business  was  carried  on  down  to  1S57.  The  same  faucet 
practically  is  now  manufactured  by  Landers,  Frary  &  Clark,  of 
New  Britain,  under  the  trade  mark  of  'Fenn.'  Pewter  tumblers 
were  also  made  at  one  time  on  Town  Hill,  as  well  as  round 
picture  and  looking  glass  frames  and  candlesticks.  It  is  also 
reported  that  there  was  once  a  peach  vat  in  this  same  section 
where  men  with  boots,  made  for  that  purpose,  used  to  tread  the 
juice  out  of  the  peaches  for  peach  brandy. 

Joel  Griggs  in  the  early  part  of  the  '20's  manufactured  carts 
and  plows  in  a  building  about  ten  rods  east  of  the  residence  of 
Oliver  Smith,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street.  He  conducted 
this  business  until  about  iS^3. 

Theophilus  M.  Smith,  father  of  Oliver  and  Miles  vSmith, 
came  from  Milford  about  iSov  He  lived  in  the  house  once 
standing  between  Oliver  Smith's  late  residence  and  John  Burr's. 
The  chimney  is  still  standing  there.  He  had  a  shoe  shop  in  the 
rear,  the  old  stone  chimney  of  which  is  also  now  standing.  He 
began  the  taiming  business  about  1820,  twenty  rods  southwest  of 
John  Burr's  house,  continuing  the  business  until  about  1S35, 
when  he  was  succeeded  bv  Miles  Smith  who  continued  it  until 

A  hat  shop  formerly  owned  bv  Ozias  Goodwin  in  about 
1800  stood  on  the  premises  where  the  ice  house  now  stands  near 
the  entrance  to  Shelton  &  Tuttle's  carriage  premises.  This  shop 
is  mentioned  in  the  survey  of  the  east  middle  turnpike  from 
Poland  Bridge  to  Woodbury  line  which  was  made  about  1804. 
Henrv  C.  Smi^h,  somewhere  in  the  '20's,  began  the  clock  busi- 
ness in  a  sliop  in  the  rear  of  what  is  now  the  A.  C.  Shelton  resi- 
dence. He  failed  in  business  about  1837.  William  A.  vSmith, 
brother  of  Henry,  carried  on  the  harness  business  in  a  building 
that  once  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present  town  building.  His 
shop  was  afterwards  moved  to  the  rear  of  the  present  store  of 
Beach  &  Blackmer. 

Zalmon  and  Samuel  Coley  were  the  first  carriage  makers  in 
town.  Their  shop  stood  in  the  yard  east  of  Byron  Tuttle's  pres- 
ent residence.  The  shop  was  afterwards  moved  and  part  of  it  is 
now  owned  by  Enos  Blakeslee.  The  main  shop  now  owned  by 
Enos  Blakeslee  was  built  bv  Coley,  Bradlev  &  Co.,  about  1S36. 
The  partners  were  Zalmon  Colev,  Lucius  Bradlev,  Joel  Blakes- 
lee and  Plart  Fenn  ;  the  latter  being  the  father  of  Wallace  B. 
Fenn  and  Mr.  Wardwell's  first  wife.  Coley,  Bradley  &  Co. 
failed  about  1840.      Thev  built  most  of  their  work  for  the  southern 


CEXTHNNIAL     CEI,KH[{  ATION .  T5I 

market  ami  had  a  repository  at  Tuscaloosa,  ^\Ia.  L.  F.  Comstock 
and  James  Bishop  succeeded  Coley,  Jiradley  &  Co,  about  1850 
and  tailed  in  1S61  or  1862.  Blakeslee  cS:  Boland  carried  on  the 
business  tor  two  or  three  years,  Boland  then  selling  cut  to 
Blakeslee. 

Augustus  C.  Shelton  commenced  carriage  making  in  the 
building  in  \V.  H.  Tuttle's  present  yard  about  1837,  building 
and  enlarging  from  time  to  time  The  shop  now  standing  was 
built  about  1844.  The  large  shop  was  taken  down  and  moved 
in  1853.  Blacksmith  shop  and  engine  room  burned  down  in 
1S58,  were  rebuilt  and  burned  again  in  1894.  Byron  Tuttle 
entered  the  employ  of  INIr.  Shelton  August  26,  1S47,  ^•^''  $^3  P^'' 
month  and  board.  The  next  three  years  he  worked  for  $1.00 
per  day  and  board  January  i,  1S55,  he  was  taken  into  partner- 
ship with  one-half  interest.  Their  trade  originally  was  with  the 
southern  market.  From  1S54  ^'^  i860  every  can iage  was  sold 
through  their  house  at  Chicago.  Their  western  business  proved 
a  great  success  owing  to  large  advance  in  price  of  their 
goods. 

In  1S64  they  built  a  repository  on  JMadison  street,  Chicago, 
which  they  occupied  until  April  i,  1870,  when  the  business 
declining  the  building  was  disposed  of  and  the  partnership  so 
far  as  the  manufacturing  was  concerned  was  dissolved.  From 
that  time  forward  Mr.  Shelton  carried  on  the  business  in  a  limited 
"way  until  his  death  in  1880. 

David  Shelton  started  a  carriage  business  about  1850  in  a 
shop  recently  occupied  bv  William  H.  Tuttle.  He  moved  to 
New  Haven  in  1874.  Joel  Blakeslee  &  Son  began  a  carriage 
business  in  the  brick  shop  now  standing  about  1856  or  there- 
abouts, continuing  until  about  iS6^. 

The  father-in-law  of  Elizur  Fenn,  together  with  Freeman 
Cook  and  VV3ilvs  Atwater,  mc\dethe  brick  for  the  Andrew  Terry 
&  Co.'s  Iron  Foundry.  Their  yard  was  about  a  mile  north 
from  Tefryville.  A  small  shop  used  to  stand  opposite  the 
Niagara  shop,  the  water  being  carried  across  the  street.  Heman 
Clark  made  clocks  there. 

Stephen  Talmadge,  brother  of  Amzi,  at  one  time  owned  the 
place  opposite  Geo.  E.  Shelton's,  where  William  R.  White  lives, 
and  had  a  hat  shop  there.  He  afterwards  carried  on  the  same 
business  in  a  shop  which  stood  between  the  present  Episcopal 
parsonage  and  Mrs.  Pierpont's  house.  This  shop  was  after- 
wards moved  to  the  place  where  Mrs.  James  Smith  lives  and 
now  forms  part  of  the  house.  He  subsequently  moved  his  hat 
business  to  the  premises  where  Frank  Blakeslee  now  lives  and 
died  there.  Captain  Dairow^  at  one  time  made  coffins  on  the 
premises  just  west  of  Abel  Beardslev's.  Walker  Plumb  had  a 
cabinet  shop  in  the  building  wliere  for  vcars  Mrs.  Huldah  Warner 
carried  on  the  millinery  business.  My  earliest  recollection  of 
that  corner  repaints  the  vivid  colors  of  Aunt  Huldah's  millinery 
store,  with  its  front  windows  illumined  with  the  gaily  decorated 
hats  and  bonnets  which  she  trimmed  in  the  most  aesthetic  style. 
•Col.  Theophilus  ]VI.  Smith   at  one  time  carried  on  tanning  and 


153  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

currying  south  of  the  turnpike  on   Hancock  Brook,  al)Out  half  a 
mile  east  from  Plymouth  Center. 

Somewhere  in  the  '40's  James  Warner,  2(1,  and  his  son, 
William  B.,  built  the  red  shop  half  way  between  the  center  and 
Thomaston  where  they  carried  on  for  years  the  business  of  sash 
and  blind  making.  I  think  he  was  succeeded  by  Edward  Parker, 
who  conducted  a  number  of  enterprises  there  in  a  small  way, 
such  as  making  vises,  button  hole  scissors,  garden  rakes,  etc^ 
In  1875  Augustus  E.  Blakeslee  and  Eugene  Grant  carried  on  the 
shear  business  there. 

Jude  Blakeslee,  the  great-grandfather  of  Bela  B.  Satterlee, 
as  early  as  177^  conducted  a  tannery  in  Plymouth  Hollow  in  the 
old  building,  part  of  which  is  still  standing  at  the  fork  of  the 
roads  leading  to  VVaterbury  and  Litchfield.  His  son  Bela 
Blakeslee  afterwards  conducted  the  same  business  there.  A  tan- 
nery at  one  time  existed  at  the  brow  of  Castle  Hill  opposite  the 
Cornelius  Stoughton  place,  J.  C.  Usher  was  the  proprietor. 
One  Melcher  formerly  had  a  shop  standing  between  John  Chase's 
and  C.  Beardsley's  residences  where  he  made  clocks.  A  cider 
mill  also  once  stood  in  the  same  vicinity. 

Nathan  Tolles,  who  recently  died  at  New  Britain,  had  a 
shop  at  the  John  Taylor  place  near  Dan  Carter's  where  he  made 
parts  of  clocks.  He  sold  out  to  William  Hoadley,  brother  of 
Silas  Hoadley,  who  conducted  the  same  business  until  about 
^836,  when  the  property  was  sold  to  Heman  Welton,  who  made 
furniture  knobs  and  bungs  for  oyster  kegs,  the  latter  occupation 
giving  the  name  of  Bungtown  to  that  settlement. 

Jacob  N.  Blakeslee  had  a  flax  mill  near  Morris  Humiston's 
present  farm  about  182S,  and  also  had  a  small  linseed  oil  mill. 
A  little  later  he  removed  his  mill  to  a  spot  about  twenty  rods 
below  James  Roberts'  residence  where  he  could  get  more  power. 
Thomas  Fenn  later  had  a  shingle  mill  at  the  same  location,  In 
the  winter  of  1838,  Russell  Reynolds,  father  of  Henry  F.,  built 
a  lime  kiln  near  Jericho  Bridge  on  the  west  side  of  the  river. 

In  1S37  or  182S  Bela  B.  Blakeslee  carried  on  brick  making 
in  Plymouth  Hollow.  He  was  succeeded  by  Eli  Barnes,  and  he 
in  turn  by  his  brother  Selden  Barnes.  The  property  afterwards 
was  purchased  by  Edson  Thomas,  who  conducted  the  business 
for  a  number  of  years. 

John  Wiard,  now  living  in  Plainville,  built  the  'Stucco' 
House  on  road  leading  to  Wolcott,  and  also  built  a  shop  where 
he  manufactured  sash  and  blinds.  South  of  this  place  was 
another  water  power  where  in  the  '40's  John  and  Punderson 
Mansfield  carried  on  business  in  wood-work  of  some  kind. 
A  Mr.  Gibbs  was  afterwards  taken  into  the  firm.  They  were 
succeeded  by  Wilson  G.  Bradley,  who  made  well  curbs  and 
buckets  and  did  general  jobbing  in  wood  work. 

About  1840  Israel  B.  and  Andrew  E.  Woodward  started  a 
tannery  at  Plymouth  Hollow  near  the  covered  bridge.  They 
carried  on  a  prosperous  business  for  forty  or  more  years. 

On  the  stream  which  now  serves  as  the  outlet  for  the  Thom- 
aston reservoir,  Riley  Ives  at  one  time  made  parts  of  toys  which 


CENTKNVIAL     CEI.EHRA  TIO.N.  15-5 

he  shipped  Id  Hridgepoit  for  sale.  Further  down  the  same 
stream  Ransom  vSantord  about  1840  had  a  small  shop  where  he 
turned  brass  pinions  and  barrels  for  Seth  Thomas  clock  move- 
ments and  made  clock  keys  also.  Still  further  down  the  same 
stream  he  built  a  grist  mill  in  1845,  which  he  ran  till  1877- 
During  part  of  this  time  he  made  clock  verges  for  Samuel  San- 
ford  in  the  same  building. 

In  1832  or  '33  Marvin  and  Edward  Blakeslee  built  the  fac- 
tory at  Heathenville  for  a  clock  factory.  Jerome  Woodruil" 
afterwards  made  pianos  there  for  a  time,  and  the  organ  now  in 
St.  Peter's  church  was  built  there  by  a  man  named  McCuUom. 
Thus  showing  that  a  heathen  county  may  be  made  instrumental 
in  praising  the  Lord.  Dr.  Carrington  and  George  Lamb  after- 
wards made  spools  and  thread  in  the  same  factory,  and  spooled 
thread  there  for  a  short  time,  when  they  moved  to  Waterbury. 
Charles  Johnson,  bi  other  of  Horace  Johnson,  late  of  Waterbury, 
the  portrait  painter,  made  machinery  there  somewhat  latei". 
Nelson  Bradley  made  clock  verges  there  for  about  one  year. 

Li  the  early  part  of  the  century  William  Pierpont,  uncle  of 
Rev.  John  Pierpont,  the  poet,  and  father  of  Mrs.  Huldah  Warner, 
ran  a  mill  for  making  cloth,  on  road  to  Northfield.  Somewdiere 
in  the  '20's  Meigs  Allen  put  in  the  first  power  loom  in  this  part 
of  the  country  on  road  to  Northfield  near  present  residence  of 
Caleb  Humiston.  He  ran  it  as  a  cloth  mill  for  some  years. 
A  little  north  of  this,  William  Huntington,  father  of  C,  P.  Hunt- 
ington, ran  a  carding  mill  and  dressed  cloth  in  fore  part  of  the 
'30's,  afterwards  Gilbert  Fox  and  Dan  Catlin  manufactured  rivets, 
the  first  concern  of  its  kind  in  the  country,  and  did  quite  a  large 
business.  Edward  Guernsey  and  Dan  Catlin  afterwards  manu- 
factured tobacco  in  a  part  of  the  same  building.  Van  Housen 
ran  a  shingle  mill  about  the  same  time  on  the  site  of  Caleb 
Humiston's  saw  mill.  From  183^  for  a  few  years  Z.  Whitlock 
&  Son  ran  a  hoe  and  pitchfork  factory  in  the  same  vicinity. 

Benjamin  Smith  built  the  shop  and  dam  now  owned  by 
T.  J.  Bradstreet  on  the  road  to  Northfield,  and  at  present 
operated  as  a  saw  mill,  about  1830,  and  made  plows.  He  also 
made  several  kinds  of  iron  castings.  The  frames  for  the  doors 
in  cemetery  vault  at  PIvmouth  were  cast  there.  He  was 
succeeded  by  G.  Nelson  Bradley,  who  made  clock  verges  and 
other  parts  of  the  movements  for  two  or  three  years.  William 
Warner  afterwards  made  sash  and  blinds  there.  Warner  was 
succeeded  by  Samuel  Sanford  who  made  clock  trimmings  for  1 
about  fifteen  years.  T.  J.  Bradstreet  has  owned  the  property/ 
for  several  years  using  it  as  a  grist  and  saw  mill. 

Anson  Beecher,  father  of  L.  Wheeler  Beecher,  now  living 
at  Westville,  Conn.,  lived  and  owned  a  mill  property  on  the 
main  road  to  Litchfield,  and  near  the  Litchfield  line.  Seventy 
years  or  more  ago  he  braided  the  first  straw  hat  made  in  this 
country  and  taught  several  women  how  to  make  straw  hats. 
He  also  invented  some  machinerv  for  making  hats,  but  did  not 
follow  hat  making  as  a  business.  His  main  business  was  making 
lumber,    lath    and    shingles,  until    sometime    between    1840  and 


154  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

1S50,  when  he  sold  his  mill  and  bought  another  tactoiy  property 
on  the  same  stream  of  water  but  a  little  nearer  Plymouth  Hollow. 
The  present  dam  lor  the  reservoir  supplying  Waterbury  with 
water  is  but  a  few  rods  down  the  stream  from  where  this  factory 
stood  and  the  water  now  covers  the  old  site  many  feet  deep.  At 
this  factory  in  1850,  Anson  Beecher,  in  connection  with  his  son 
Ebenezer  B.  Beecher,  invented  and  began  building  match  mak- 
ing machinery,  and  in  1853  commenced  the  manufacture  of 
matches.  A  few  years  later  this  business  was  removed  to  West- 
ville  in  the  town  of  New  Haven.  From  that  time  the  match 
business  has  been  rapidly  extended,  and  the  firm  of  A.  Beecher 
&  Sons  merged  with  other  concerns  and  now  called  the  Diamond 
Match  Co.,  has  its  ftictories  all  over  the  United  States,  and  are 
now  building  in  England.  This  company  has  a  capital  of  eleven 
millions  of  dollars.  Anson  l?eecher  died  April  7,  1S76,  in  the 
seventy- first  year  of  his  age,  at  Westville.  The  machines  now 
used  by  the  Diamond  Company  are  mainly  the  inventions  from 
time  to  time  of  Anson  Beecher  and  A.  Beecher  &  Sons.  A  letter 
trom  L.  Wheeler  Beecher  conveying  the  above  information  to 
me  concludes  with  the  statement  '  that  I  will  discover  that  one 
mdustry  started  so  long  ago  in  old  Plymouth  has  not  yet  died 
out.' 

Robert  and  Henry  Hotchkiss  made  clock  cases  for  Henry 
Smith  in  a  shop  about  one-half  the  distance  between  the  house 
of  James  Roberts  and  his  present  mill.  They  suspended  work 
about  1S46. 

Where  James  Roberts  now  lives  on  the  Branch  Stream, 
Dennis  Smith  about  the  same  time  carried  on  the  wool  carding 
business  and  cloth  dressing.  The  Litchfield  turnpike  was  not 
then  open,  and  people  had  to  pass  over  the  hill  in  a  line  about 
due  north  from  the  present  dwelling  of  Edward  Morse.  The 
work  performed  in  those  days  by  the  carding  mill  was  to  card 
the  w^ool  and  make  it  into  rolls.  The  farmer  then  took  the  rolls 
home  and  the  good  housewife  made  it  into  cloth,  which  was  taken 
back  to  the  mill  to  be  sheared  and  pressed  and  dyed.  At  that 
time  calico,  all  of  which  was  imported,  cost  about  thirty  cents  a 
yard,  making  it  too  expensive  for  use,  and  linen  and  wool  con- 
stituted the  almost  exclusive  material  for  garments  for  all  mem- 
bers of  the  familv- 

About  a  half  a  mile  below  the  mill  of  Dennis  Smith,  George 
Blakeslee  built  a  saw  mill,  where  Joseph  Newell's  mill  now 
stands.  Ransom  Sutlifte  afterwards  owned  the  mill,  and  he  was 
in  turn  succeeded  bv  Miles  Morse  &  Bros.  About  1833,  George 
Jones  and  Garrett  S.  Blakeslee  built  a  wagon  factory  at  the  site 
where  the  American  Knife  Co.'s  works  were  afterward  located. 
They  manufactured  the  most  expensive  carriages  of  the  day  for 
the  southern  market.  Other  parties  were  afterward  taken  into 
the  firm  and  in  a  few  vears  the  company  failed.  ^  In  1S41  Mr. 
-^IMiles  Morse  began  the  manufacture  of  brass  clocks  "at  the  same 
location,  having  as  a  partner  Jeremiah  Blakeslee.  This  business 
continued  until  1S49,  when  the  factorv  was  sold  to  the  American 
Knife  Co.  for  the   manufacture  of  pocket  cutlery.      In  iS^o  Mr. 


\ 


CENTENNIAL     CEI.l-:Hi{AT10X.  1 55 

Morse  and  Gen.  Thomas  A.  Davis  of  New  \'(jrk  City,  built 
another  clock  factory  on  the  West  Branch  of  the  Naugatuck  and 
continued  the  clock  business  until  they  were  burned  out  in  Jan- 
uary, 1855. 

Mr.  Morse  and  Mr.  George  B.  Pierpont  conducted  for  many 
years  the  Pocket  Cutlery  business  in  the  factory  already  alluded 
to,  under  the  name  of  the  American  Knife  Co.,  Mr.  Pierpont 
retaining  an  active  interest  in  its  management  until  the  close  of 
his  life.  This  plant  is  still  used  for  making  pocket  cutlery,  hav- 
ing passed  through  various  hands  into  the  ownership  of  Frank 
Catlin  of  Northfield. 

Watertown,  former!}'  VVestbury,  had  in  the  early  part  of  the 
century  but  little  water  power,  and  consequently  manufacturing 
did  not  form  so  important  a  feature  as  in  the  other  parts  of  the 
town.  At  one  time  a  large  and  flourishing  grist  and  saw  mill 
was  owned  and  managed  by  James  Merwin  on  the  site  now 
occupied  bv  A.  N.  Woolson.  This  property  at  one  time  was 
owned  b\'  Jeremiah  Peck,  who  subsequently  moved  to  North- 
field.  He  purchased  the  property  October  24,  1836,  of  Friend 
Davis  and  sold  the  same  to  the  Watertown  Manufacturing  Co., 
April,  1850,  and  they  afterwards  conveyed  it  to  Everett  & 
Davis,  who  manufactured  lunbrella  trimmings  and  mouse 
traps.  After  some  years  the  propeity  was  sold  to  A.  N. 
Woolson,  who  has  since  conducted  the  same  business  with 
good  success.  Some  thirtv  rods  below  this  site,  about  eighty 
years  ago,  Timothy  Steele  formed  a  partnership  with  one 
Sedgewick  to  carry  on  the  wool  carding  business,  which  busi- 
ness lasted  but  a  short  time.  Some  years  later  the  Watertown 
Silk  Co.  began  business  upon  the  same  location  and  was  unsuc- 
cessful, and  the  buildings  were  destroyed  by  lightning. 

At  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  the  road  leading  to  Thomaston, 
Daniel  Woodward  built  a  tannerv  which  was  soon  sold  to  the 
Watertown  Leather  Co.,  who  manufactured,  for  a  short  time, 
gloves  and  mittens.  At  the  present  time  the  plant  is  used  by 
Arthur  Fox  as  a  wood  turning  factorv.  Fortv  rods  below  this 
site  General  M.  Hemingwav  established  the  M.  Hemingway  & 
Sons  Silk  Co.,  to  manufacture  sewing  silk,  which  subsec}uently 
grew  into  a  large  and  prosperous  business.  A  few  vears  ago 
Buel  Hemingway,  one  of  the  General's  sons,  organized  a  com- 
panv  known  as  Hemingway  &  Bartlett,  for  the  manufacture  of 
sewing  silk,  and  built  a  large  factory  near  the  railroad  station. 
These  two  factories  at  the  present  time  form  the  principal  manu- 
facturing industry  of  that  town  and  are  doing  a  large  business. 

About  half  a  mile  below  the  silk  mills  Leverett  Candee  & 
Son  some  twentv-five  years  ago  built  a  wool  carding  mill. 
Afterwards  this  site  was  purchased  bv  the  Wheeler  &  Wilson 
Sewing  Machine  Co.,  who  began  the  making  of  sewing  machines, 
but  the  need  of  additional  power  and  room  and  reduction  in 
freights  induced  the  company  to  abandon  the  business  and  move 
to  Bridgeport. 

About  1S25  James  Bishop  and  L.  B.  liradley  established 
and    conducted   for  a  few   vears  the   iiusiness   of   making  wood 


156  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

clocks.  They  employed  for  a  time  quite  a  number  of  operatives. 
Their  capital  was  small  however,  and  the  entire  property  with 
the  machinery  and  tools  having  been  destroyed  by  fire,  after 
running  for  a  few  years  the  business  terminated.  During  their 
stay  in  VVatertown  Jacksonianism  flourished  and  they  arranged 
the  first  political  banquet  ever  held  in  the  town.  No  ladies  were 
invited  and  it  is  reported  that  the  patriots  had  a  '  rip  roaring 
time'  The  only  other  industr}'  which  I  will  mention  in  this 
part  of  ancient  Plymouth  was  a  hat  shop  which  was  built  in  the 
early  part  of  the  century  by  Alanson  Warren  on  the  site  now 
occupied  by  William  Wood  as  a  residence.  He  did  a  good 
business  for  some  years. 

The  foi^egoing,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  covers  in  a  rambling 
and  hurried  manner  the  manufacturing  interests  of  our  town 
from  its  inception  to  the  present  time  as  far  as  I  have  been  able 
to  gather.  Many  mistakes  will  doubtless  be  found  to  exist,  both 
as  regards  location  and  dates,  and  probably  many  industries  have 
been  overlooked.  I  fear,  however,  that  I  have  alreadv  wearied 
you  by  too  lengthy  an  address  upon  a  subject  naturallv  some- 
what dry  and  possibly  to  many  of  you  uninteresting. 

I  think  we  can  as  citizens  of  this  honored  town  find  much 
cause  for  gratification  in  the  thought  that  our  ancestry,  who 
occupied  these  hills  and  valleys,  were  men  and  women  of  indus- 
trious and  enterprising  traits  ol  character,  who  made  the  most  of 
their  resources  and  left  to  their  descendants  the  heritage  of  an 
honorable  and  useful  life." 

Mr.  Pond — After  listening  to  this  able  address  by  Judge  -> 
Bradstreet,  if  there  is  a  full-blooded,  native  born  citizen  of  this 
town  that  does  not  feel  proud  of  his  native  town  clear  down  to 
the  bottom  of  his  heart,  I  am  sorry  for  him.  Why,  it  appears 
that  we  have  manufactured  nearl}'  everything  under  Heaven 
from  straw  hats  to  bungs,  and  what  in  the  world  shall  we  do  in 
the  next  hundred  vears.?  We  are  only  a  hundred  years  old  and 
all  that  to  our  credit.  I  notice  that  we  have  with  us  in  the 
audience  a  gentleman  who  represents  the  town  from  which  Ply- 
mouth was  set  oft' — Watertown — and  we  should  very  much  like 
to  hear  what  he  has  to  sav  of  this  town  of  Plymouth.  I  will  call 
upon  Henry  T.  Dayton  of  Watertown,  to  give  us  a  few  remarks. 

Henry  T.  Dayton — (Mr.  Dayton  on  stepping  to  the  platform 
first  took  a  drink,  which  created  some  amusement  in  the 
audience).  He  said  :  "We  came  dry  and  have  grown  dryer. 
Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  There  is  only  one  reason 
that  I  know  of  to-night  for  my  appearing  before  you,  and  that  is 
that  the  town  of  Watertown  mav  be  represented  here.  I  do  not 
know  that  there  is  any  one  else  here  from  Watertown.  If  there 
is  I  wish  he  would  rise  and  I  will  immediatelv  take  my  seat.  Is 
there  one  here?  I  come  before  you  very  proud  because  I  can 
call  you  children,  grandchildren,  great-grandchildren,  and  I  pre- 
sume great-great-grandchildren,  and  as  I  look  over  this  sea  of 
faces  may  I  not  be  proud  to  think  that  they  are  our  children, 
although  your  mother  was  young,  younger  than  you  would  like 
to  have  your  daughter  married  and  sent  away  from  home.     I  am 


CENTENNIAL     CELEHKA  TION  .  157 

sure  as  we  liavc  heard  the  acUhess  that  has  been  delivered  lieie 
and  see  what  this  town  has  done,  we  cannot  find  much  fauk. 
I  was  struck  with  the  remarks  of  our  worthy  chairman. 
I  wontlered  what  the  rest  of  the  world  lias  created  if  the  town  of 
Piymoutii  in  one  hundred  years  had  manufactured  all  these 
articles,  and  I  presume  the  half  of  them  have  not  been  told.  It 
is  a  mistake  that  1  am  before  you.  The  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee of  three  who  were  asked  to  do  a  little  something  in  the 
line  of  reviewing  here  has  been  called  away,  and  a  day  or  two 
ago  I  received  a  line  from  one  of  the  committee,  asking  if  we 
would  have  some  one  there  to  speak.  We  have  been  gathering 
curiosities  for  the  exhibition.  1  said  I  would  go  and  1  am  here 
as  one  of  those  antique  things  that  has  grown  up  from  the  past. 

We  are  welcomed  to-night  to  participate  in  Plymouth's  cen- 
tennial, and  )our  cordial  words  of  greeting  help  to  paint  for  us  a 
picture  on  the  distant  horizon.  \\e  behold  a  fifteen-year-old 
mother  parting  from  her  infant  child,  mingling  tears  of  sorrow 
with  tears  of  joy — of  sorrow  because  ot  the  separation,  and  of 
joy  because  of  the  child's  bright  prospect  in  its  new  home.  The 
daughter's  name  while  under  the  paiental  roof  was  Northbur}-, 
but  when  removal  was  deemed  advisable,  that  name  was  changed 
to  Plymouth,  a  name  so  suggestive  of  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims 
and  of  their  early  struggles  and  successes  on  New  England's 
rock-bound  shore.  And  now  ^ve  rejoice  that  our  daughter  has 
reached  the  mature  age  of  one  hundred  years  and  that  she  wears 
her  hoary  hairs  as  a  crown  of  glory. 

What,  then,  are  we  doing  to-day.?  Mother  Watertown  is 
paying  a  visit  to  her  first-born  child  on  her  hundredth  birthday. 
The  aged  mother  has  driven  up  this  steep  ascent  with  the  north- 
east wind  in  her  face,  in  order  to  share  in  this  joyous  celebration, 
and  to  shout  with  all  the  rest,  from  far  and  near  ;  '  VVe  heartily 
wish  you  many  happy  returns  of  the  day.'  The  mother  is  glad 
to  know  that  her  daughter  has  done  well  in  life,  is  now  in  thriftv 
circumstances  and  has  healthful  and  beautiful  surroundings. 

A  whole  century  has  passed  away  I  During  that  long 
period,  how  numerous  and  important  have  been  the  changes! 
r/ie/i  the  iron  horse  had  not  invaded  the  foot  of  this  hill ;  f/ir// 
electricity  had  neither  shed  light  on  our  way,  nor  brought  us 
messages  from  absent  friends ;  ///r//  many  of  the  ordinary  com- 
forts which  we  now  enjoy  in  our  homes,  were  undiscovered. 
It  has  certainly  been  a  century  of  wonderful  progress;  and  the 
upward  march  is  still  being  continued,  for  we  observe  the 
motto,  'Excelsior!'  waving  in  the  breeze  and  inviting  to  new 
endeavor  and  ever-increasing  prosperitv. 

A  former  pastor  of  this  church,  the  Rev.  E.  B.  Hillard, 
said,  some  time  before  his  death,  '  The  town  of  Plymouth  was 
incorporated  in  i79=>,  Northbury  society  having  first,  with  West- 
bury  societv,  become  incorporated  in  the  town  of  Wotertown. 
The  ecclesiastical  societies  in  each  instance  took  the  initial  steps, 
so  that  the  town  was  in  each  case  an  evolution  from  the    society.' 

Therefore,  as  it  was  the  niii^ioits  society  that  made  the  first 
move,  it  is  eminentlv  appropriate  that  we  meet  this  evening  in  a 


158  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

house  of  Divine  worship,  and  it  artbvds  us  pleasure  that  the 
religious  life,  as  well  as  the  civil,  still  exists  and  flourishes,  and 
that  the  town  authorities  still  desire  to  go  onward  hand  in  hand 
with  the  spiritual  leaders  in  their  endeavor  to  maintain  that 
righteousness  which  exalteth  a  town,  a  state  or  a  nation." 

Mr.  Pond — I  am  sure  we  are  very  grateful  to  Mr.  Dayton 
for  his  remarks.  We  will  mark  him  "Exhibit  A,"  and  place 
him  on  exhibition  in  town  hall  in  Terryville  to-morrow  with  the 
other  relics,  at  his  request.  Is  there  any  one  here  from  Water- 
bury  ;  will  vou  say  a  word  for  Waterbury  ?  If  there  is  we  should 
be  very  glad  to  hear  from  him.  There  are  many  here  from 
Thomaston.  Here  is  a  whole  seat  full,  and  others  are  all 
scattered  about.  We  should  be  glad  to  hear  from  Thomaston. 
I  will  call  no  names.     Please  volunteer. 

F.  W.  Etheridge — "Mr.  Chairman,  residents  of  Plymouth 
and  friends:  I  suppose  I  stand  here  as  '  Exhibit  B,'  represent- 
ing what  has  been  called  the  baby  town.  I  suppose  that  refers 
to  that  child  that  has  so  far  outgrown  its  parent  that  it  is  now 
wearing  the  cut-over  clothing.  In  behalf  of  the  people  of  Thom- 
aston and  the  committee  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent,  I 
desire  to  thank  you  for  the  most  cordial,  kindly  greeting  and 
welcome  which  you  have  extended  to  us  on  this  memorable 
occasion.  As  citizens  of  the  town  of  Thomaston  it  affords  us  a 
large  degree  of  pleasure  to  realize  that  we  are  kindred  of  the  old 
town  of  Plymouth,  which  is  just  entering  upon  its  second  century 
of  independent  town  government,  after  a  career  of  prosperity  of 
which  its  citizens  may  well  feel  proud. 

We  are  glad  to  be  present  at  this  celebration  and  review 
with  you  the  many  interesting,  and  to  many  of  the  younger  por- 
tion of  the  community,  surprising  events  of  more  01  less  promi- 
nence which  have  occurred  v^^ithin  your  territory  since  your 
incorporation  as  a  town.  In  the  history  of  many  nations  of  the 
old  world  one  hundred  years  is  but  a  brief  interval,  but  with  us, 
when  we  realize  that  only  a  little  over  four  hundred  years  ago 
Columbus  fit  St  set  foot  upon  American  soil,  and  that  our  Pilgrnn 
Fathers — those  hardy  pioneers  who  loved  liberty  better  than  life 
and  who  encountered  every  hardship  and  danger  that  they  might 
enjoy  religious  freedom — first  landed  on  the  shores  of  New 
England  in  1620,  only  375  years  ago,  and  that  every  improve- 
ment wrought  by  the  hand  or  ingenuity  of  man  in  this  great 
continent  has  been  made  since  that  time  ;  when  we  see  these 
elegant  structures,  monuments  of  modern  architectural  skill, 
which  adorn  our  cities  and  towns  ;  when  we  listen  to  the  busy 
hum  of  thousands  of  looms,  manufacturing  cotton  and  woolen 
fabric  formerly  made  by  the  tireless  housewife  in  ye  olden  times  ; 
when  we  see  our  great  cities  teeming  with  people,  ranking  with 
the  first  cities  of  the  world  ;  the  broad  farms  of  the  great  West, 
capable,  under  the  manipulation  of  modern  machinery,  of  furn- 
ishing food  for  nations,  and  the  thousands  of  astonishing  inven- 
tions and  discoveries  of  recent  years,  all  the  work  of  less  than 
three  hundred  years — one  hundred  years  of  that  time  looks  quite 


CENTKNNIAI-     CHI.KISK  ATION.  1^9 

ditFerent    to    us,  and    we    wonder    liow    it    has  been    possible   to 
accomplish  so  much  in  so  short  a  time. 

These  changes,  Mr.  Chairman,  have  been  wrought  by  just 
such  men  of  integrity,  industry,  ability  and  perseverance  as  past 
history  reveals  to  have  been  residents  of  this  town,  and  their 
descendants  are  to-day  scattered  throughout  this  vast  country, 
many  of  them  a  credit  and  honor  to  their  Plymouth  ancestry, 
and  they  are  equally  with  you  proud  of  the  old  town  which  gave 
them  or  their  forefathers  birth. 

We  congratulate  you  to-night  on  the  rounding  out  and  com- 
pletion of  the  century,  the  first  hundred  years  ol  an  honorable 
record.  We  have  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  as  we  meet  with  you 
heie  that  we  are  welcome,  that  our  coming  is  a  home  coming, 
though  we  left  the  sheltering  roof  of  the  old  homestead  twenty 
vears  ago  against  the  wishes  and  earnest  protests  of  the  mother 
town,  vet  the  people  of  Thomaston  to-day  still  feel  a  deep 
interest  in  everything  that  pertains  to  the  prosperity  and  welfare 
of  Plymouth.  As  the  youngest  of  the  family,  heir  apparent  to 
Plymouth,  Watertown  and  a  large  slice  of  Waterbury  ;  as  the 
nearest  in  point  of  location  and  the  most  closely  identified  with 
the  business  interests  of  this  section  of  the  town  at  least,  we  feel 
entitled  to  close  and  friendly  relations  with  the  mother  town. 

We  are  glad  that  our  familv  relations  are  so  pleasant  that 
Waterbury,  our  great-grandmother  on  her  mother's  side,  is  so 
well  satisfied  to  expend  such  large  sums  of  monev  to  secure  a 
water  supply  within  our  territory.  We  are  equally  glad  that  our 
reservoir  is  located  in  the  town  of  Plymouth,  though  we  earnestly 
wish  it  provided  us  better  water  in  summer.  We  are  thankful 
to  Plymouth  for  the  protection  afibrded ;  we  regret  that  the 
drinking  supply  brought  over  from  Thomaston  to  Plymouth  is 
not  more  satisfactory.  This  (pointing  to  the  glass)  was  not 
from  Thomaston,  or  our  friend  from  Watertown  would  not  have 
tasted  it  so  quickly.  We  can  not  account  for  this  unsatisfactory 
thing  except  on  the  ground,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  it  is  unnatural 
for  liquids  to  flow  up  hill,  and  to  get  up  here  it  must  come  up 
considerable  of  a  hill,  and  often,  we  notice,  with  considerable 
difficultv. 

Rich  in  historical  interest  and  a  pioneer  in  a  number  of 
manufacturing  enterprises,  which  through  years  of  persistent 
industry  and  ingenuity  now  furnish  emplovment  to  skillful 
mechanics  in  many  thriving  towns,  Plymouth  has  ever  done  her 
share  in  the  advancement  and  prosperitv  of  the  colmtr^^ 
Though  having  reached  an  advanced  age,  as  reckoned  in  the 
annals  of  mankind,  Plymouth  is  vet  young,  and  in  the  jjossi- 
bilities  of  the  future  capable  of  attaining  a  yet  grander  record  in 
the  vears  to  come,  and  while  we  extend  to  you  our  congratula- 
tions on  the  past,  we  earnestly  hope  that  you  may  attain  great 
honors  and  prosperity  for  the  future. 

May  the  celebration  of  this  anniversarv,  revealing  so  much 
that  is  new  to  the  rising  generation,  furnish  an  additional  impetus 
and  materiallv  assist  in  the  onward  progress  of  this  communitv. 
Allow    me,   Mr.    Chairman,    to    again    thank    vou    for   the    most 


l6o  HISTORY    OF    PI-YMOUTH. 

cordial  welcome  which  you  have  extended  to  the  people  of  our 
town." 

Mr.  Pond — I  am  quite  sure  that  this  audience  extends  its 
thanks  to  Mr.  Etheridge  for  the  kind  words  which  he  has 
offered  to-night.  We  have  several  letters  of  regret,  one  of  which 
must  be  read,  whether  the  others  are  or  not,  and  I  will  read  it 
with  your  permission  now,  as  I  know  it  will  be  of  interest. 

WiNSTED,  Conn  ,  May  6th,  1S95. 
Hon.   Bykon  Tuttle,  Chairman,  Plymoulh  Centennial  Committee,   Plymoutli, 
Conn. 

Aly  Dear  Sir:  —  A  relative,  who  was  an  invalid  and  with  whom  I  was 
brought  in  frequent  contact,  when  a  boy,  used  to  say,  in  answer  to  inquiries  as  to 
his  condition,  that  he  enjoyed  very  poor  health.  Unfortunately,  such  is  not  my 
state,  for  it  is  impossible,  in  this  free  country,  for  me  to  6njoy  that  which  puts  me 
under  the  domination  of  those  despots,  beneficent  though  they  be,  called  physi- 
cians and  which  deprives  me  of  the  long  anticipated  pleasure  of  being  present  at 
the  opening  ceremonies  in  Plymouth  church  of  the  centennial  of  our  beloved 
town.  As  such  howevei  is  the  case,  can  you  spare  me  a  minute  for  a  word  of 
kindly  greeting  to  my  fellow  townsmen,  neighbors  and  friends,  assembled  to-night 
in  a  place  to  which  I  am  attached  by  so  many  cherished  memories  and  associations. 

A  residence  of  a  score  of  years  elsewhere  has  in  no  degree  weakened  but 
rather  increased  my  love  for  the  town  where  I  was  born,  where  a  quarter  century 
of  my  life  was  passed,  where  most  of  my  living  relatives  reside  and  where  rest  the 
ashes  of  my  parents  and  kin. 

The  six  years,  in  which  I  was  permitted  to  look  out  of  my  office  window,  on 
this  church  and  on  Plymouth  green  with  its  monument  to  the  memory  of  its  chil- 
dren who  died  in  the  defense  of  their  country,  will  ever  seem  like  an  oasis  in  the 
desert,  a  green  spot  in  the  dry  and  arid  journey  of  life.  The  past  few  weeks  of 
enforced  idleness,  from  other  things,  have  left  my  mind  free  to  wander  amid  the 
scenes  of  the  past,  and  it  has  done  so  constantly.  As  a  result,  I  beg  to  bring  you, 
to  night,  the  greeting  and  triinite  of  a  grateful  child  to  a  beloved  mother.  The 
century  that  is  passed  has  l)rought  results,  the  contemplation  of  which  should  till 
our  hearts  with  thankfulness.  May  God  grant  to  this  town  a  future  worthy  of 
that  ]iast,  and  may  his  richest  blessing  rest  upon  you  all. 

Very  truly  yours, 

AUGUSTUS  PL  FENN. 

]Mr.  Pond — We  will  make  this  a  sort  of  old-f;ishioned  Meth- 
odist love  feast.  There  are  many  here  to-night  who  have 
returned  for  this  occasion  and  whom  we  should  like  to  hear  for 
just  a  few  moments,  perhaps  ten  minutes,  and  we  wish  to  give 
them  an  opportunity.  We  want  to  hear  them  and  we  rather 
think  they  want  to  sav  something,  too.  At  any  rate,  I  am  going 
to  give  you  this  invitation.  Among  those  who  are  present  I 
notice  General  Erastus  Blakeslee,  a  native  of  Plymouth,  and  I  am 
sure  we  should  all  be  glad  to  hear  a  few  words  from  him.  Will 
he  kindly  respond.'' 

General  Blakeslee — "M\'  dear  friends — for  I  feel  just  that  way 
toward  everv  one  here  in  this  old  home  place  of  Plymouth.  It  is 
with  something  of  the  feeling  which  the  ancient  Jews  had  when 
they  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  the  feasts,  that  I  have  come  up 
here  from  Boston  to  this  feast  to-night. 

I  am  verv  glad  indeed  for  the  history  of  the  manufacturing 
interests  of  this  town  which  has  been  made  to  us  this  evening. 
I  shall  be  very  glad  to-morrow^  to  listen  to  a  history  of  the  other 
features   of  this   town's   life,  which    we    all    ouglit  to    listen   to. 


CENTENNIAI,     CKLKBKATION.  l6l 

I  renicDiber  wlicn  I  was  a  boy,  perliaps  ten  or  twelve  years  old, 
going  to  a  two  days'  celebration  in  the  town  of  LitcliHeld — I  think 
it  was  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  organization  of  Litchfield 
County.  1  remember  nothing  that  was  said  there,  almost  nothing 
that  was  done,  but  I  do  remember  a  great  impression  that  was 
made  on  my  mind.  It  was  this,  that  there  was  no  such  county 
on  the  face  of  the  earth  as  the  comity  of  Litchfield,  and  that  has 
never  been  rubbed  out.  Now,  I  wish  that  this  celebration  of  the 
centennial  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  town  of  Plymouth 
might  make  such  an  impression  as  that  on  all  these  boys  and 
young  people  who  are  here  to-night,  and  I  wish  it  for  several 
reasons.  1  wish  it  because  I  want  to  cultivate  in  them  love  of 
country,  true  patriotism  ;  the  feeling  that  we  have  here  in  this 
country  something  to  be  conserved,  something  to  be  preserved, 
something  to  be  fought  for  if  need  be,  and  it  is  only  as  we  take 
now  and  then  a  look  backward,  as  we  look  over  the  history 
which  our  fathers  have  made  for  us  and  see  what  a  precious 
heritage  they  have  handed  down  to  us,  how  they  have  loved  and 
labored  and  toiled  in  the  past,  that  they  might  hand  over  to  us 
the  things  which  we  now  enjoy — that  we  have  deeply  impressed 
upon  us  the  value  of  these  things  and  the  dignity  which  we  have 
come  to  in  having  them  handed  down  to  us. 

I  am  very  thankful  for  a  great  many  things  here  to-night. 
I  am  thankful  that  my  great-great-great-grandfather.  Deacon 
Moses  Blakeslee,  came  to  the  town  of  Plymouth  and  located  in 
1734.  He  was  the  patriarch  of  the  Blakeslee  tribe  in  Plymouth, 
and  it  has  been  a  pretty  respectable  tribe  among  the  tribes  of  this 
town.  I  have  looked  up  the  history  of  the  family  somewhat  and 
find  they  were  all  men  of  industry,  of  honor,  of  honestv,  of 
uprightness;  they  were  good  neighbors;  they  were  members  of 
the  church  ;  they  did  their  part  in  life  well  and  truly,  and  I  am 
tiiankful  for  them.  1  am  thanktul  most  of  all  for  my  father,  Joel 
Blakeslee,  whom  you  all  or  nearly  all  of  you  I  know  remember, 
and  whom  one  beautiful  winter's  evening,  under  the  glowing 
light  of  the  setting  sun,  we  buried  over  on  the  hillside  yonder  ; 
a  man  of  such  kindness  and  gentleness  of  spirit,  such  Christian 
character,  such  sweetness  of  disposition,  such  activity  in  every 
good  word  and  deed  that  his  memorv  is  blessed — all  who  ever 
knew  him  rise  up  and  call  him  blessed. 

I  am  thankful  for  my  mother,  the  dear  woman,  sufiering  so 
much  in  these  days  of  her  loneliness  and  sorrow,  and  waiting 
for  the  day  of  her  translation.  I  am  thankful  for  this  church  in 
which  we  meet.  I  remember  how  I  stood  nearer  the  pulpit  than 
I  am  now,  in  front  of  the  communion  table,  one  Sunday  after- 
noon, a  boy  in  my  teens,  and  confessed  Christ  as  my  Saviour. 
I  remember  how  I  sat  back  two-thirds  of  the  way  that  very 
Sunday,  in  that  part  of  the  house  just  yonder,  and  for  the  first 
time  partook  of  the  sacrament.  I  remember  the  first  Sunday 
School  class  that  I  attended,  sitting  just  about  here  in  the  front 
pew  on  that  side,  and  I  remember  who  mv  teacher  was — a  good 
woman  whose  memory  is  blessed. 

T  am  thankful,  too,  that  I   lived  during  the   last  half  and  a 


l63  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

little  more  of  the  century  which  we  are  celebrating  to-night. 
Of  course  we  want  all  that  we  can  get  of  the  glory  of  this 
century's  achievements,  so  1  am  going  to  claim  about  fifty-six 
years  of  it,  and  I  am  thankful  that  I  have  lived  in  those  fifty-six 
years,  the  fifty-six  greatest  years  that  the  history  of  the  world 
ever  saw,  the  fifty-six  years  in  which  has  been  fought  out  the 
great  battle  for  liberty  in  this  country,  the  fifty-six  years  in 
which  the  greatest  progress  in  business,  in  enlargement  of  all 
sorts,  has  been  made.  What  the  next  fifty-six  vears  will  pro- 
duce I  do  not  know.  If  there  is  anything  that  I  would  like 
better  than  to  have  lived  in  the  last  fifty  years,  it  would  be  to 
live  in  the  next  fifty  years,  I  might  as  well  say  a  hundred.  The 
reason  why  I  came  to-night  was  that  I  was  afraid  I  would  not 
last  till  the  next  one. 

If  we  can,  through  this  celebration,  impress  it  upon  the  minds 
of  the  young  people  that  their  fiithers  have  been  wise,  industrious, 
active,  patient,  noble,  upright,  sincere,  honorable,  useful  Chris- 
tian men  in  all  the  century  that  is  past,  and  they  have  handed 
down  to  their  descendants  the  precious  privilege  of  town  organi- 
zation and  government,  of  schools  and  business  prosperity  which 
are  in  this  community;  the  precious  privilege  of  living  in  a 
New  England  town  and  breathing  the  pure  air  of  these  hills, 
they  will  love  these  things,  and  as  the  great  whirlpools  of  the 
cities  in  these  latter  days  draw  them  away  from  this  hilltop  and 
these  valleys  that  are  round  about  us  and  plant  them  in  other 
places,  they  will  look  back  with  longing  to  this  home  of  their 
childhood.  Boys,  if  there  is  anything  in  the  world  to  be  glad 
for,  it  is  for  a  noble  heritage  coming  down  to  you  from  the  past, 
and  if  you  can  only  catch  something  of  that  inspiiation  here 
to-night  and  to-morrow,  the  Lord  will  bless  you  in  it. 

Now,  I  am  thankful  for  the  record  which  this  town  has 
made,  for  one  thing,  in  the  Civil  War.  Perhaps  it  is  appropriate 
that  I  should  speak  of  it.  I  remember  boys  who  used  to  sit  over 
here  on  benches  and  seats  in  the  school  house  yonder,  and  boys 
who  came  from  the  school  houses  down  in  the  valley,  and  from 
the  eastern  part  of  the  town,  and  as  I  look  over  the  list  of  their 
names  and  their  deeds,  I  feel  to  rejoice  in  them  for  the  things 
which  they  accomplished  in  the  service  of  their  country.  It  is  a 
noble  thing  to  serve  your  country,  to  serve  it  in  battle  if  need  be, 
to  sei've  it  at  the  ballot-box,  always  voting  for  the  things  that  are 
true  and  pure  and  right;  always  standing  up  for  the  right  boldly, 
sincerely  and  honestly,  not  for  parties  because  they  are  parties, 
but  for  the  things  that  are  pure  and  true  and  right,  and  that  may 
be  done  in  peace  as  well  as  in  war. 

I  cannot  stop  to  mention  names  to-night,  but  from  these 
school  houses,  from  these  homes,  from  these  hillsides  and  farm 
houses  and  factories  there  went  forth  men  to  the  southern  fields 
who  in  the  turmoil  of  battle  were  smitten  down  for  their  country, 
and  with  the  sound  of  the  battle  still  unspent  went  to  their 
r.^'ward.  Cherish  their  names;  honorable,  brave  men.  There 
were  men  who  were  laid  hold  on  bv  the  enemy  and  carried  ofl 
into  southern  prisons,  who  wasted  there  under  the  southern  sun. 


CKNIENMAI.     CHI,KI5KAI  ION.  163 

wIk)  died  under  the  southern  sun,  who  came  home  l)ut  to  (He. 
Noble  men !  Remember  them  and  their  families  with  honor 
always.  There  were  thos^  who  sickened  in  hospitals  and  died, 
who  did  not  have  the  satisfaction  of  dying  in  the  midst  of  battle, 
but  who  died  in  the  seclusion  and  silence  and  agony  of  the 
hospital  life;  noble  men  every  one — remember  them,  honor 
them,  honor  their  families.  And  remember  that  these  things 
were  done  that  w^e  might  have  the  things  that  we  enjoy  now, 
that  we  might  lay  hold  on  the  things  that  we  consider  precious 
now,  that  we  might  enjoy  the  fruits  of  liberty. 

'  What  is  the  use  of  coming  together  to-day,'  I  asked  the 
lady  who  sat  next  me.  She  said  :  '  There  are  a  few  good  things 
that  last  a  hundred  years,  they  ought  to  be  celebrated.'  1  agree 
with  her  perfectly.  I  think  we  ought  to  celebrate  ;  that  is  true. 
But  we  ought  to  celebrate  this  anniversary  and  come  here  with 
joy  as  we  do  to-night,  not  only  in  memory  of  the  things  that  are 
past,  but  as  illustrating  to  us  the  brotherhood  of  man.  What  is 
the  town  organization.^  It  is  the  community,  the  civil  govern- 
ment among  us.  Now  we  ought  to  take,  and  I  presume  we  do 
take,  a  great  deal  more  interest  in  the  celebration  of  an  anniversary 
here  in  the  town  of  Plvmouth  than  we  would  in  an  anniversary 
of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  a  great  deal  more  than  we  woidd  in 
an  anniversary  of  the  United  States  of  America.  Why.-*  Because 
we  are  only  parts  of  the  great  whole  in  that  case,  but  in  this  case 
we  are  the  whole.  This  gathering  of  men  which  we  call  a  town 
is  the  foundation  of  our  civil  structure,  and  it  is  the  place  of 
equality  among  men,  it  is  the  place  of  all  places  in  the  woild 
where  men  are  equal,  and  when  they  come  together  in  their 
town  meetings  and  vote  the  things  they  will  do,  every  man  is  as 
good  as  every  other  man.  Every  man  has  his  rights  and  he  is 
not  afraid  to  declare  them,  and  the  brotherhood  of  man,  the 
equality  of  men,  the  political  and  righteous  relations  between 
men  stand  exemplified  in  the  town  government  as  they  can 
nowhere  else,  so  the  town  government  is  very  dear  to  us,  the 
very  foundation  of  our  political  institutions.  Without  the  town 
gi)vernment  we  could  not  have  what  we  now  have  in  these 
United  States,  so  it  ought  to  be  preserved,  it  ought  to  be  made 
much  of.  we  ought  to  rejoice  in  it,  and  that  we  all  have  our 
share  in  it.  We  ought,  as  Paul  did  when  he  was  on  his  way  to 
Rome  and  the  brethren  came  out  to  meet  him,  to  thank  God  and 
take  courage,  and  then  go  forward,  every  one,  with  his  heart  set 
on  this,  that  he  will  serve  God  and  his  fellow-men  always, 
everywhere,  truly,  fully,  completely  ;  that  he  w-ill  put  away  all 
that  is  untruthful,  all  that  is  dishonorable  :  that  for  the  sake  of 
God  and  his  fellow-men  and  the  town  in  which  he  lives,  for  the 
sake  of  the  parents  who  bore  him  and  the  honorable  ancestry 
around  him  he  w\\\  live  as  a  noble,  upright,  honorable  Christian 
man,  always  and  everywhere  doing  his  part  to  help  his  fellow- 
men.  May  such  be  the  influence  of  tliis  celebration  upon  us 
each  and  every  one,  and  those  who  live  on  to  the  middle  of  the 
next  century,  or  if  any  of  von  are  tough  enough  to  live  on  to  the 


164  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

next  centennial,  won't  you  see  if  you  cannot  do  very  much  along 
the  lines  which  I  have  mentioned? 

Thanking  you  for  your  kindness  and  attention,  and  rejoicing 
to  be  with  you  here  to-night,  I  bid  you  all  farewell." 

Mr.  Pond — I  am  well  aware  that  the  hour  is  late,  yet  there 
are  some  others  we  would  like  to  hear  from.  I  want  to  ask  them 
if  they  won't  confine  their  remarks  to  not  more  than  ten  minutes 
after  this.  There  is  one  gentleman  I  am  sure  you  would  like  to 
hear.  Rev.  Moseley  H.  Williams  of  Philadelphia.  I  think  he 
was  born  in  Plymouth,  at  least  he  was  a  resident  here  for  many 
years.      Will  Mr.  Williams  please  favor  us  .'' 

Rev.  Moseley  H.  Williams — No,  I  was  not  born  in  Ply- 
mouth,but  I  wish  I  had  been.  I  trust  you  will  accept  this  confession 
to-night  for  all  that  it  is  worth.  I  came  here  a  boy  of  seven  and 
since  then  Plymouth  has  at  all  times  been  to  me  a  very  bright 
spot,  and  so  I  was  drawn  from  Philadelphia.  As  General 
Blakeslee  said,  I  felt  I  should  not  live  until  the  next  one  In 
view  of  the  success  of  the  present  celebration  you  might  do  as 
Fred  Douglas  said  the  colored  people  proposed  to  do  after  the 
Philadelphia  Centennial.  They  liked  it  so  well  that  they  pro- 
posed to  have  them  once  a  quarter  for  a  while,  and  it  is  very 
likely  that  you  will  do  the  same  thing,  so  that  we  shall  live  to 
have  another  centennial. 

Now,  God  gives  us  some  bright  spots,  and  this  is  a  very 
bright  spot  in  my  own  experience,  to  be  here  in  the  old  place, 
look  in  the  faces  of  the  friends,  rejoice  in  what  I  had  of  privilege 
in  this  goodly  town,  and  to  thank  all  the  boys  and  girls — wide 
awake,  though  it  is  long  past  nine  o'clock — who  wall  make  the 
history  of  the  next  half  century.  Boys — I  was  thinking  of  it 
while  you  were  speaking,  Mr.  Blakeslee — of  what  an  old  man 
said  to  his  boys.  Ke  said  :  '  Boys,  if  you  grow  up  and  do  my 
work  you  can  have  my  place.'  That  is  what  the  fathers  and  the 
older  people  are  always  saying,  '  If  you  grow  up  and  do  my 
work  you  can  have  my  place,'  and  the  next  boy  that  is  giown  up 
and  can  do  his  part  can  now  have  my  place  !  (Stepping  from 
the  platform.) 

Mr.  Pond — I  will  not  call  upon  any  one  personally,  but  I 
see  many  here  who  are  fully  competent  to  talk  for  ten  minutes, 
and  who  could  entertain  this  audience,  I  am  sure,  and  I  want  to 
ask  them  to  volunteer.  Thomaston  is  well  represented,  as  I 
said  before. 

(There  being  no  response  Mr.  Pond  resumed), 

You  will  notice  by  the  programme  that  this  is  not  the  last 
of  this  celebration;  it  is  to  be  continued  in  Terryville  to-morrow. 
The  exercises  will  be  held  in  a  large  tent  in  Baldwin  Park  in  the 
forenoon,  with  a  concert  in  the  afternoon  and  an  organ  recital  in 
the  church  in  the  evening.  We  extend  a  cordial  invitation  to  all 
of  you  to  come  over  to  Terryville  to-morrow.  We  shall  expect 
to  see  you  all  there.  We  intend  to  have  a  good  time.  We  thank 
you  for  vour  attendance  here  this  evening,  and  as  the  hour  is  late 
perhaps  it  would  be  not  best  to  continue  any  longer. 

Wednesday    morning    dawned    \vith    over-hanging    clouds, 


CENTKNNIAL     CKLKiJK  A  1  ION  .  I  65 

threatening  the  pleasure  of  a  long  anticipated  day,  but  though 
unpleasant  the  larger  part  of  the  morning,  very  Tittle  rain  fell. 
At  10  o'clock  a  large  crowd  had  gathered  in  the  big  tent  erected 
east  of  the  school  building  on  Baldwin  Park,  in  Terryville,  to 
witness  and  take  part  in  the  continued  celebration  of  Plymouth's 
grand  centennial.  A  large  stage  occupied  a  portion  of  the  tent 
room  and  upon  this  were  gathered  the  chorus,  Colt's  full 
orchestra  and  the  principal  speakers  of  the  day.  Seats  from  the 
town  hall  occupied  the  remaining  space  and  before  the  opening 
they  were  filled.  Standing  room  even  was  at  a  premium.  vSoon 
the  sides  of  more  than  a  third  of  the  tent  were  rolled  up  and  the 
already  large  audience  continued  to  grow  and  multiply  outside 
of  the  space  covered  by  the  canvass.  For  some  reason  the 
exercises  did  not  commence  until  IG.30  at  which  time  the 
orchestra  rendered  Marche  et  Cortege  "La  Reine  de  Saba"  in 
their  usual  pleasing  manner.  Then  prayer  was  said  by  Rev. 
Chas.  H.  Smith,  who  spoke  as  follows  : 

"Eternal  Father,  our  dwelling  place,  we  thank  thee  that  Thou 
art  the  same  and  that  Thy  years  have  no  end.  The  eternal 
beneficence  which  Thou  has  shown  unto  the  earth  Thou  art 
showing  unto  us  with  the  new  day.  Thy  loving-kindness  has 
scattered  the  shadows  oi"  the  night;  Thou  hast  brought  to  us  the 
new  morning  light  and  with  it  the  glad  sunshine.  We  thank 
Thee,  O  Lord  our  God,  lor  Thy  mercy  unto  us  ;  for  the  leading 
of  Thy  people  through  all  this  century  of  life  until  they  gather 
here  to-day  to  rejoice  in  the  loving  kindness  and  tender  mercy  of 
our  God.  And  now^  we  come  to  ask  Thy  blessing  upon  us,  that 
in  the  words  that  are  spoken  in  this  hour  there  may  come  such 
inspiration  to  our  hearts  that  we  shall  be  built  up  in  all  that  is 
noble,  in  all  that  is  true,  in  all  that  is  pure,  in  all  that  is  holy. 
Bless  those  who  shall  lead  us  in  thought ;  bless  those  who  shall 
lift  up  our  souls  as  on  angel  pinions  in  the  voice  of  song,  and 
grant  that  the  services  of  this  day  may  be  for  Thy  glorv,  for  our 
comfort  and  cheer,  for  the  instruction  of  the  rising  generation; 
that  they  may  be  most  of  all  for  the  honor  and  praise  and  glorv 
of  Him  who  hath  redeemed  us  with  His  precious  blood — Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord,  in  whose  name  we  ask  it.     Amen." 

Rev.  Wm    A.  Gay  followed  with  this  address  of  welcome: 

"Plymouth  is  proud  of  her  children.  She  is  proud  of  them 
because  of  what  they  are.  She  is  proud  of  them  because  of 
what  they  have  done  or  are  now  doing.  She  is  proud  of  them 
because  they  have  proven  so  faithful  to  the  lessons  learned  when 
they  w^ere  under  her  sheltering  wing. 

Many  of  her  boys  and  girls  have  gone  out  from  the  old  home 
to  win  honoied  places  among  their  fellow-men  ;  and  whitherso- 
ever they  have  journeyed  tliey  have  carried  with  them  fond 
memories  of  their  Alma  INIater. 

The  luxuriant  valleys,  the  lichen  painted  and  rock  gemmed 
hills,  the  purling  brooks  and  bounding  rivulets,  are  pictures  that 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  old  Plymouth  have  carried  with  them 
to  their  distant  dwellings,  and  have  cherished  among  their  most 
priceless  treasures. 


1 66  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

And  now  the  mother  has  invited  her  wandering  cliildren 
back  to  rejoice  witli  her  in  the  celebration  of  her  first  centennial. 
In  response  to  that  invitation,  you  have  come  from  the  East  and 
West ;  from  the  North  and  South  ;  and  you  are  here  to-day  that 
you  may  prove  by  your  presence  that  you  have  not  forgotten  the 
one  who  has  done  so  much  for  you.  You  are  here  that  you  may 
rejoice  with  those  who  still  abide  along  the  hills  and  in  the 
valleys  of  this  old  Connecticut  town.  You  are  here  that  you 
may  live  over  again  the  scenes  of  the  happv  by  gone  years, 
wdien,  as  boys  and  girls,  you  gathered  the  honeysuckle  and  the 
laurel,  or  mastered  the  first  lessons  in  arithmetic  and  spelling  in 
the  old  school  house. 

And  we  give  you  all  a  glad  welcome.  Our  homes  are  your 
homes.  Our  hearts  and  our  hands  are  at  your  service.  We 
welcome  you  with  the  joyous  centennial  bells.  We  welcome 
you  with  vocal  and  instrumental  music.  We  welcome  you  with 
words  of  cheer  that  come  from  the  very  depths  of  our  souls. 

Welcome  liome,  beloved  childien, 

In  this  flowery  month  of  May; 
Welcome  home  to  her  who  loves  you ; 
Welcome,  welcome  home  to-day  : 

Home;  home;  sweet,  sweet  home; 
Welcome,  welcome  home. " 

Mr.  Pond — The  question  of  who  should  be  invited  to  deliver 
the  historical  address  on  this  occasion  is  one  which  caused  the 
Centennial  Committee  but  very  little  trouble.  Although  there 
were  many  men  who  claiin  Plymouth  as  their  native  place  who 
were  abundantly  competent  to  perform  that  duty,  there  was  one 
who  appeared,  like  Saul,  the  son  of  Kish,  to  rise  head  and 
shoulders  above  his  fellow-men  ;  a  Terryville  boy,  beginning  his 
education  here,  he  has  been  watched  with  interest  from  that 
inoment  until  the  present  time.  We  saw  him  when  a  mere 
youth,  he  scoured  the  town  to  enlist  men  in  the  defense  of  his 
coimtry  ;  we  saw  him  upon  the  return  from  the  war  with  an 
honorable  record,  with  the  commission  of  a  colonel  and  the 
empty  sleeve  hanging  by  his  side.  We  have  watched  his  career 
in  the  law  with  interest  and  aflection  ;  we  have  seen  him  go  up 
and  up  until  he  has  reached  the  highest  judicial  tribunal  in  his 
native  state,  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Errors.  You 
know  to  whom  I  refer,  Judge  Augustus  H.  Fenn  of  Winsted. 

The  judge  kindly  accepted  the  invitation  extended  him  and 
began  at  once  upon  the  address.  As  we  understand,  it  was  com- 
pleted on  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  of  March,  and  as  he 
remarked  at  the  time,  every  "i"  was  dotted  and  every  "t" 
crossed.  It  was  folded  away  to  be  used  to-day.  On  the  next, 
or  the  day  following,  to  be  exact,  the  fifteenth  of  March,  he  met 
with  the  accident  with  which  you  are  all  familiar.  His  recoverv 
in  the  past  few  weeks  has  been  very  rapid,  and  we  had  hoped, 
and  he  had  expected,  to  be  with  us  upon  this  occasion,  but  he  has 
at  last  yielded  to  the  request  of  his  physicians,  believing  that  the 
excitement  would  be  too  great  a  strain  upon  his  nervous  system. 


CENTENNIAL     CELEBH A  1  ION  .  1  67 

but  at  his  suggestion,  which  has  been  iieartily  endorsed  by  llie 
committee,  a  substitute  has  been  provided,  and  we  are  very 
proud  to  claim  the  substitute  also  as  a  native  of  Plymouth.  It 
is  needless  for  me  to  say  further  in  regard  to  him — he  can 
abundantly  speak  lor  himself  The  next  upon  the  programme 
will  be  the  historical  address  prepared  by  Judge  Augustus  H. 
Fenn,  and  delivered  by  Prof.  R.  (i.  Hibbard  of  New  15ritain. 

Mr.  Hibbard — Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and  gentlemen  : 
No  one  can  regret  more  than  I  do  the  absence  of  Judge  Fenn 
to-day.  We  have  here  an  admirable  address,  which  should  cer- 
tainly be  delivered  by  its  originator  and  author.  I  have,  how- 
ever, consented  to  do  the  best  I  could,  to  act  simply  as  a  voice, 
and  I  will  proceed  to  read  it,  as  the  chairman  has  said,  without 
the  omission  of  an  "  i  "  or  a  crossed  "  t." 

The  history  of  the  territory  which  became,  in  179S1  the 
town  of  Plymouth,  must  necessarily,  in  an  r  ddress  like  the  pres- 
ent, be  sketched  only  in  the  baldest  outline.  Especially  must  this 
be  true  of  that  jjortion  reaching  back  of  the  event,  whose  centen- 
nial we  cjlebrate  to-day. 

At  the  outset,  I  desire  to  express  my  fullest  acknowledge- 
ment for  the  information  which  I  have  obtained  upon  the  subject, 
to  the  labors  of  the  late  Rev.  E.  B.  Hilliard  as  embodied  in  a 
series  of  papers  printed  in  the  Thomaston  Express  ;  in  an  article 
on  Plymouth  in  the  Litchfield  County  History,  published  in 
I  S3 1,  and  another  on  the  Church  at  Plymouth,  contributed  to  the 
volume  cjntaining  the  addresses  delivered  at  the  two  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  foundation  of  the  first  Congregational  Church 
at  Waterbury — these  and  two  manuscript  addresses  by  Rev.  J. 
W.  Backus,  prepared  and  delivered  in  1S76  (with  which  I  have 
kindly  been  furnished)  are  results  of  infinite  labor  and  research, 
and  will  prove  invaluable  material  to  the  future  historian  of 
Plymouth,  whoever  that  person  may  be. 

Although  the  settlement  of  New  England  began  in  1670, 
and  that  of  Connecticut  in  1635,  it  was  not  until  nearly  a  century 
later  (1728)  that  Henry  Cook,  with  his  family,  located  west  of 
the  Naugatuck  River,  and  became  the  first  white  settlers  of  the 
territory  of  our  old  town,  in  that  part  now  Thomaston.  lie  was 
of  Puritan  stock  ;  a  great-grandson  of  Henry  Cook,  of  Plymouth, 
Massachusetts. 

Two  years  later,  John  Sutlift'  came  from  Branford,  Conn., 
then  Thomas  Blakeslee,  Isaac  Castle,  Barnabas  Ford,  Gideon 
Allen,  John  Humaston,  Ebenezer  Richardson,  John  Bronson, 
Samuel  Towner,  Ebenezer  Ehvell,  Jonathan  Foot — these  and  a 
few  others,  and  began  to  organize  as  an  independent  community. 
Of  course,  in  those  days,  the  earliest  nvganization  was  the 
church  and  the  ecclesiastical  society  ;  the  frst  public  building,  the 
house  of  worship;  a  pastor,  their  first  officer.  Such  was  the 
case  here. 

The  early  efibrts  to  procure  distinct  religious  privileges,  as 
stated  by  Rev.  Mr.  Hilliard,  are  curious  and  interesting,  but 
cannot  be  detailed  at  this  time.  Finally  after  several  attempts, 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Colonv,  in  ly-^q,  were  induced  to 


l6S  HISTOKV    OK    Pr.VMOUTH. 

appoint  a  committee  to  investigate;  who  reported  to  the  Assem- 
bly, that  the  "  northerh'-  inhabitants,"  as  they  were  called,  were 
well  able  to  bear  the  charges  of  a  distinct  society,  and  it  was 
resolved  that  "they  be  and  become  a  distinct  society  or  parish, 
and  that  they  shall  have  and  be  invested  with  all  the  powers  and 
privileges  wherewith  other  parishes  within  this  Colony  are 
endowed,  and  shall  be  known  and  called  by  the  Parish  of  North- 
burv."  This  was  the  first  official  recognition  as  a  distinct  com- 
munity of  what  afterwards  became  the  town  of  Plymouth. 

The  public  thought  of  the  next  few  years  centered  in  the 
solution  of  the  problem  of  securing  a  pastor,  and  locating  and 
erecting  a  house  of  worship.  The  first  was  secured  in  174O5  in 
the  person  of  Rev.  Samuel  Todd  ;  the  last,  after  many  disjDutes 
between  the  inhabitants  on  the  west  side,  and  those  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river,  some  of  them  living  as  far  eastward  as  what  is 
known  as  "  Town  Hill,"  then  a  rclativelv  prosperous  section, 
was  in  1744  located  at  a  place  called  the  Middle  stake  on  the 
south  side  of  the  green,  at  the  center  of  the  town,  on  the  high- 
way opposite  the  present  brick  building  belonging  to  the  town — 
and  here  the  first  meeting  house  was  built,  and  thus  what  is  now 
Plymouth  Center  liegun.  But  the  meeting  house  was  long  in 
building.  Voted,  in  December,  i^-^^,-,  to  be  forty-five  feet  long, 
thirtj^-fivc  feet  wide,  and  twentv  feet  between  joists,  it  was  not 
until  September,  i747i  that  the  frame  was  up,  and  it  was  voted 
to  clear  the  meeting  house  green,  which  had  then  lieen  laid  out, 
by  cutting  brus.i  and   carting  it  aw^a}'. 

In  1750,  Elnathan  Bronsoii  was  appointed  to  sweep  the 
house,  an  indication  that  it  was  then  in  use.  But  it  was  not 
then  finished,  for  in  1761  it  was  voted  to  lay  the  floor  in  the 
galleries.  In  1763,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  carry  on  the 
work  of  the  meeting  house,  and  in  176S  a  rate  was  laid  to  defray 
the  charge  of  finishing.  Thus  after  forty  years  in  the  wilderness, 
these  children  of  God  found  their  first  completed  spiritual  rest- 
ing place  and  home. 

Meantime,  in  1764,  the  first  pastorate,  that  of  Rev.  Samuel 
Todd,  liacl  ended.  When  he  came  to  Plymouth,  he  was  twenty- 
three  years  old,  a  native  of  Noith  Haven,  a  graduate  of  Yale, 
recently  married.  He  came  here  on  horseback,  bringing  his 
wife  with  him,  doubtless  on  a  pillion  behind  him,  into  what  was 
then  woods  and  wilderness,  with  only  bridle  paths  and  fords  to 
the  streams,  to  a  small,  feeble,  scattered  flock.  His  promi!^ed 
home  was  not  begun  when  he  arrived,  and  he  went  to  live  on 
Town  Hill,  where  the  cellar  hole  is  still  to  be  seen,  in  the  lot 
near  where  he,  whom  it  is  one  of  my  proudest  boasts  to  speak  of 
as  my  grandfather  Elam  Fcnn,  so  long  lived  a  beautiful  and  con- 
secrated life. 

Samuel  Todd,  I  regard  as  the  typical  founder  of  this  com- 
munity, and  brief  as  is  my  time,  I  cannot  forbear  quoting  to  you 
his  fitting  tribute  in  the  words  of  Rev.  Mr.  Plilliard.  He  sa^s  in 
his  admirable  sketch  of  the  church  in  Plymouth  :  "  To  no  man 
in  its  history  has  the  community  been  more  largely  indebted. 
He  was  the  pilot  under  whose  guidance  it  weathered  the  storm. 


CKN'IENNIAL     CEI.1.I5K  A  TIOX.  169 

Coinin<^  in  liis  yoiini^  manhood  iHlO  the  \\ilclcrncss,  hnngmg  his 
young'  wife  with  him  on  horseback  when  bridle  paths  were  the 
only  roads;  the  society  that  had  called  him  wrecked  at  the  out- 
set of  its  history;  his  parishioners  divided  and  alienated;  his 
church  for  years,  destitute  of  a  home  and  wandering  like  a  way- 
farer from  house  to  house ;  his  support  inadequate;  his  salary 
wliich  had  been  small  from  the  first  diminished  by  the  deprecia- 
tion of  the  currency,  and  because  of  the  straitened  circum- 
stances of  his  i^eople,  difiicult  to  secure  ;  changing  his  home 
repeatedlv  Avith  the  changing  fortunes  of  the  parish;  struggling 
with  discouragement,  and  in  the  later  years  of  his  ministr}'  with 
broken  health,  this  good  man  labored  on  with  patience  and  faith- 
fulness and  a  spirit  imembittcred  by  trouble,  his  chief  solicitude 
being  not  for  liimself,  but  for  the  parish  in  its  weakness."  In 
speaking  of  his  final  dismissal,  Mr.  Ililliard  says  it  was  from  "a 
pastorate  which  was  not  a  faihnc,  but  a  success,  unsurpassed 
indeed  by  anv  that  followed  it.  Mr.  Todd  did  good  pioneer 
work,  making  things  easier  for  his  successors,  and  the  records  of 
the  parish  for  a  century  and  a  half  is  his  monument."  Mr.  Todd 
was  succeeded  by  Rcy.  Andrew  Storrs,  ordained  in  176^,  when 
thirty  years  old,  and  who,  after  a  successful  ministry  of  twenty 
years,  died  in  office  in  178S1  ^t  the  age  of  fifty,  and  lies  buried  in 
the  old  cemetery  in  Plymouth  Center.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Simon  Waterman,  settled  in  I'jS^,  and  dismissed  in  1S09.  Con- 
cerning him,  the  following  anecdote  was  related  by  my  grand- 
father, which  Mr.  Hllliard  has  preserved.  He  was  tall,  thin, 
stylish  ;  a  master  of  ceremony.  "  He  used  to  walk  up  the  broad 
aisle  of  the  church,  bowing  and  smiling  on  either  side,  the  peo- 
ple rising  and  bowing  to  him  as  he  passed.  Reaching  the  pulpit 
he  first  turned  and  bowed  to  the  bass  on  his  right,  who  filled  the 
front  gallery  seat  on  the  south  side,  and  rose  to  bow  in  return. 
This  parade  was  repeated  with  the  treble  in  front,  and  with  the 
counter  and  tenor  on  the  left."  The  dignity  and  courtesy  of  this 
old  time  style  told  with  benefit  on  character  and  life.  Ibis  w"s 
carried  to  excess  by  the  president  of  Vale — small  in  stature,  but 
great  in  dignit}-,  who,  in  passing  into  the  chapel  between  two 
files  of  seniors  ranged  outside  tl^e  doer  according  to  custom, 
slipped  and  fell  on  his  back  in  (he  mud.  The  students  were 
overcome  with  laughter.  Rising  and  casting  a  withering  glance 
upon  them,  the  Frcx.  burst  out,  ''Young  gentlemen,  do  you  not 
know  how  awful  a  thing  it  is  to  laugh  in  the  presence  of  God, 
and  much  more  in  my  presence  }  " 

During  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Mr.  Storrs,  the  Revolutionary 
war  occurred.  In  this,  several  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  parish 
of  Northbury  had  an  honorable  part.  Deacon  Camp  went 
through  the  wilderness  of  Maine  in  1775,  with  Arnold  to  besiege 
Qiiebec.  Daniel  Rowe  was  at  the  battle  of  Saratoga,  and  is 
said  to  have  been  the  first  person  to  reach  Arnold  after  he  was 
wounded.  Jesse  Smith  was  Major.  There  were  both  patriots 
and  tories,  as  they  were  called,  in  the  community,  and  both  did 
their  part. 

I  ought  not  to  omit  to   say,  that  the  Episcopal   Church   in 


HISTORY    OK    IM.\M()LI  Til. 


Interior  Congregational  Cliurch.  Plsmouth. 
where  Centennial  Services  were  held 


Tent  on  Baldwin  Park,  Terryville. 
vhere    Centennial    Services    were    held. 


CKN  IJiNNlAI,    CEI.KMHATIO.V.  171 

Plymouth,  St.  Peter's,  is  as  ancient  as  the  CongregationaL  It 
was  organized  in  1740,  and  the  first  churcli  edifice  erected  in 
what  is  now  Thomaston.  It  liad,  previous  to  the  revohition, 
five  rectors  ;  Theophilus  Morris,  James  Lyon,  Richard  Mans- 
field, James  Scoville  and  James  NicholSo  After  the  revolution, 
the  society  was  reorganized  with  a  list  of  members  which  em- 
braced the  names  of  many  of  the  most  influential  citizens  of  the 
community.  The  present  church  edifice  in  Plymouth  Center  is 
substantially  of  the  same  age  as  the  t:wn,  having  been  erected 
in  1796  and  consecrated  in  i797-  But  I  am  not  undertaking  to 
give  a  church  history.  My  only  purpose  in  alluding  to  the  sub- 
ject to-day,  is  to  develop  the  secular  story  of  the  town,  and  it 
has  thus  far  been  requisite  to  refer  at  such  length,  because  the 
Ecclesiastical  Parish  was  the  parent  of  the  town,  and  until  the 
latter  was  organized,  the  former  was  the  only  body  whose  story 
could  be  told.  Having  now  reached  the  period  of  such  organi- 
zation, that  I  may  conclude  this  branch  of  my  address,  permit 
me  to  anticipate  the  thread  of  my  narrative  in  point  of  time  and 
to  say,  that  the  successor  of  Rev.  Mr.  Waterman,  the  Rev. 
Luther  Hart,  who  began  his  ministry  of  the  Plymouth  church  in 
iSio,  continuing  it  until  his  death  in  1S34,  must  have  been  a 
man  of  superior  ability  and  fitness  for  his  work,  for,  more  than 
forty  years  after  his  death,  I  have  heard  old  people  who  sat 
under  his  ministry  refer  to  him  in  such  terms  of  mingled  admira- 
tion and  veneration  and  love,  as  few  men  ever  receive,  and  fewer 
still  are  honored  with  when  they  have  long  been  dead.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Rev.  Ephraim  Lyman,  who  was  pastor  from  1S35 
to  1S51.  During  his  ministry,  in  December,  1837,  the  Congre- 
gational Church  in  Thomaston  was  founded,  with  thirty-seven 
members.  It  took  with  it  one  of  the  deacons  of  the  church  in 
Plymouth,  Tertius  D.  Potter,  born  before  the  town  of  Plymouth 
was  organized,  and  who  died  three  years  ago  at  the  age  of  nearly 
one  hundred.  The  very  next  month,  January,  1S3S,  the  church 
in  Terryville  was  organized  with  about  fiftv  members.  Its  first 
pastor  was  Rev.  Nathaniel  Richardson.  His  pastorate  lasted 
two  years.  Pie  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Merrill  Richardson, 
twice  a  pastor  of  the  church,  a  short  pastorate  of  Rev.  Judson 
A.  Root  coming  between,  his  last  ministry  here  closed  in  1S58. 
Of  his  successors,  I  need  not  speak,  for  they  belong  to  modern 
times. 

The  General  Assembly  of  this  State  in  179^  passed  an  act 
dividing  the  town  of  Watertown,  and  incorporating  the  town  of 
Plymouth.  The  population  of  the  new  town  was,  T  suppose, 
substantially  1,200,  for  in  1790  the  population  of  Watertown  was 
3,170,  and  in  1800  the  population  of  Watertown  was  1,622,  and 
of  Plymouth  1,121,  a  sharp  decrease  in  the  total  in  the  decade. 
But  in  1810,  the  population  of  Plymouth  had  increased  to  1,882; 
again  in  1820,  it  had  decreased  and  was  i,7=;8,  while  in  the  same 
decade  the  population  of  Litchfield  Countv  had  fallen  from 
4fv375'  '""  i8io,  to  41,267,  in  1820.  In  1830,  Plvmouth  had 
increased  to  2,064;  in  i8^o  it  was  2, =^68;  in  1860,3,244;  in 
1870,  notwithstanding  the  loss  of  the  v/ar,  the  greatest  increase 


HISIOKV     OP"     FI.V.MOUTII. 


came,  to  4,149,  becoming  then  the  laiCTest  popuhition  of  any 
town  in  Litchfield  County.  In  1S75,  occurred  the  division  of 
the  town,  and  t'le  setting  off  of  a  portion  of  its  territory  to  form 
Thomaston.  In  18S0,  the  population  of  Plymouth  was  2.350;  of 
Thomaston,  3,223  ;  in  1S90,  of  Plymouth,  2.147;  <^f"  Thomaston, 
2, 278.  Now  that  I  am  upon  the  matter  of  statistics,  may  add 
that  midway  between  the  organization  of  the  town  and  tlie  pres- 
ent time,  just  fifty  years  ago,  in  1845,  by  authority  of  the  legis- 
lature, information  concerning  certain  branches  of  industry  in 
the  various  towns  of  this  State  was  procured,  and  an  abstract 
prepared  and  published,  a  copy  of  which  is  in  the  State  Library 
at  Hartford,  referring  to  which  I  find  the  following  information 
concerning  Plymouth  : 

In  the  year  1S45,  we  had  i  cotton  mill,  with  2,iS8  spindles, 
cotton  consumed,  15,000  lbs.,  cloth  manufactured,  49,000  lbs., 
value,  $39,200;  1  atting,  3,000  lbs.,  value,  $iSo;  capital,  $40,000; 
males  employed,  22  ;  females,  36  ;  i  woolen  mill,  with  two  sets 
machinery  ;  wool  consumed,  60,000.,  lbs  cassimere  manufactured, 
40,000  yards.,  value,  $45,000  ;  capital,  $iS,ooo  ;  males  emplo3-ed, 
20;  females,  10;  sewing  silk  manufactured,  320  lbs.,  vf'lue, 
$2,000;  capital,  $2,000;  males  employed,  i;  females,  7; 
machine  factory,  i  ;  merchandise  manufactured,  $1,500;  capital, 
$800 ;  employes,  3 ;  lock  factories,  2  ;  locks  manufactured, 
42,000  dozen  ;  value,  $25,000  ;  capital,  $1 1,000  ;  employes,  38. 
Clock  factories,  5  ;  clocks  manufactured,  95,500;  value,  $191,- 
000;  capital,  $45,000;  employes,  200,  other  minor  manufactures 
included.  Forks  and  hoes,  350  dozen;  plows,  15;  saddles, 
harnesses,  and  trunks,  value  manufactured,  $5,000.  Coach  and 
wagon  manufactories,  2  ;  merchandise,  $30,240  ;  capital,  $10,000  ; 
employes,  35.  Chair  and  cabinet  manufactories,  i  ;  value  mer- 
chandise, $2,500;  capital,  $1,500.  Flouring  mills,  2;  flour 
manufactured,  162  barrels;  value,  $810.  Tanneries,  2;  hides 
tanned,  1,700;  boots  manufactured,  1,265  pa^ii's ;  shoes,  2,750 
pairs;  value,  $7,769;  employes,  10.  Bricks  manufactured, 
175,000;  value,  $990;  lime,  200  casks.  Lumber  prepared  for 
market,  150,000  feet;  fire  wood  prepared  for  market,  3,752 
cords;  value,  $9,231.  Sperm  oil  consumed,  3,434  gallons, 
value,  $3,434  ;  anthracite  coal  consumed,  20  tons,  value,  $204. 
There  were  in  the  town  275  Saxony  sheep,  522  Merino  sheep, 
and  of  all  other  sorts,  1,013,  total  value,  $2,262.  There  were 
273  horses,  1,787  neat  cattle,  673  swine.  There  was  raised  in 
1845,  corn,  6,653  bushels,  wheat,  80  bushels,  rye,  4,724  bushels, 
barley,  80  bushels,  oats,  9,535  bushels,  potatoes,  14,968  bushels, 
fruit,  111,092  bushels,  flax,  1,122  pounds,  and  61,829  pounds  of 
butter,  and  22,358  pounds  of  cheese  was  made. 

The  first  town  meeting  of  the  new  town  of  Plymouth  was 
held  on  Wednesday,  June  24,  1795.  David  Smith  was  chosen 
moderator,  and  Joseph  A.  Wright,  the  first  town  clerk  or  regis- 
trar. 3  Aaron  Dunbar,  Joseph  A.  Wright  and  Abram  Heaton 
were  chosen  selectmen.  Jason  Fenn  appeared  not  as  town  clerk, 
as    he    does    to-day,    but  as  a  surveyor  of   highways,    to    which 


CKNI'KNNIAL    CKLK  HK  A  TION' .  I  ^  :; 

office  another  ol   my  great-grandfathers,  Timothy  Atwater,  was 
also  at  the  same  time  appointed. 

The  next  town  meeting  was  held  December  14,  179s.  It 
was  then  voted,  that  the  town  treasurer  for  the  time  being,  by 
and  with  tlie  advice  of  the  selectmen,  be  directed  to  loan  out  the 
money  which  has  or  will  be  paid  by  the  town  of  Watertown  to 
this  town  agreeable  to  the  resolve  of  the  General  Assembly  incor- 
porating said  towns,  in  sums  rot  exceeding  fifteen  pounds  to  one 
man,  provided  those  who  apply  for  the  nioney  procure  surety  to 
the  accei:)tnncc  of  said  treasurer  and  selectmen  ;  the  obligations 
for  which  sums  not  to  exceed  the  jurisdiction  of  a  single  justice, 
witb.  the  interest  at  (he  time  they  become  payable,  which  shall 
not  exceed  one  year  from  the  time  they  are  given.  This  monev 
a]:)]:)ears,  a  few  years  later,  to  have  been  specially  appropriated 
for  the  purpose  of  building  a  bric^ge. 

The  town  meeting  of  which  I  have  just  been  speaking,  was 
adjourned  to  December  31,  1795,  when  it  was  voted,  that  a  tax 
of  two  pence  on  the  pound,  on  the  last  August  list  be  granted, 
pa3'able  the  tenth  day  of  January  next,  for  the  purpose  of  ]:)aying 
the  expenses  of  the  town.  Asa  specimen  of  the  spirit  of  paternal 
government,  which  appears  to  have  somewhat  prevailed  at  that 
time,  it  mnv  be  mentioned  that  it  was  also,  at  said  adjourned 
meeting,  vote<l,  tliat  the  to^vn  will  pay  the  expense  of  Lem 
Dunbar's  late  sickness,  and  that  the  same  be  not  charged  to  the 
said  Dunbar.  We  have  seen  that  in  1795^  t^^e  tax  was  of  two 
pence  half  j^enny  on  the  ]iound,  but  in  1796  the  tax  was  two 
cents  on  the  dollar.  Then  more  examples  of  the  paternal  spirit 
occurred.  It  was  voted,  that  the  selectmen  be  directed  to  allow 
Mrs.  Anna  Royce  ten  dollars  for  the  expense  of  doctoring  Free- 
man Upson  in  August  and  September  last.  And  it  was  voted, 
that  if  any  boar  of  more  than  three  months  old,  or  any  ram 
should  be  found  out  of  the  custody  or  possession  of  the  owner 
thereof  between  the  20th  day  of  August  and  the  ist  day  of 
November  next,  it  shall  forfeit  the  sum  of  one  dollar  to  any  one 
who  shall  prosecute  the  same  to  eftect.  And  it  was  also  voted, 
that  the  selectmen  be  directed  to  apportion  out  four  of  the  law 
books  which  are  the  property  of  this  town,  to  the  several  parts 
of  the  town  according  to  the  list  of  their  inhabitants.  In  1797  it 
was  voted  that  liberty  be  given  for  the  inoculation  for  the  small- 
pox to  be  carried  on  in  this  town  under  the  direction  of  the  civil 
authority  and  the  selectmen.  It  is  stated  that  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  inhabitants  present  were  in  the  foregoing  vote.  In 
I Soo  it  was  voted  that  the  selectmen  be  directed  to  procure  a 
funeral  cloth.  December  12,  iSoS,  it  was  voted  tnat  a  com- 
mittee be  appointed  to  confer  with  the  selectmen  on  the  subject 
of  Allen  Howe's  wife,  and  report  to  this  meeting.  Said  com- 
mittee reported  that  they  wish  for  more  time  for  consideration  of 
the  sul:)ject. 

The  town  records  of  a  town  contain  its  official  history. 
That  of  Plymouth  is  now  embraced  in  two  volumes.  It  mav  be 
interesting  to  know  when  the  first  of  these  volumes,  which  was 
begun  in  1795,  closes.      It   seemed  to  me    significant.      It  is  with 


1 74  HISTORV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

the  meeting,  a  special  one,  of  September  3,  1S63,  and  with  the 
recorded  action  of  the  town,  at  that  meeting,  in  voting  a  bounty 
from  the  town  treasury  to  volunteers  in  the  war  for  the  Union, 
and  appointing  a  committee  to  solicit  such  volunteers  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  U.  S.  Government.  Then  the  second  or  present 
volume  begins  with  the  record  of  the  annual  town  meeting  of 
1S62,  in  which  it  was  voted  to  authorize  the  selectmen  "to  draw 
orders  on  the  treasury  of  this  town  to  an  amount  not  exceeding 
$3,000  in  addition  to  what  has  been  heretofore  voted  for  the 
same  purpose,  and  to  use  the  same  so  far  as  in  their  discretion 
they  shall  deem  necessary  for  the  benefit  and  support  of  the 
families  of  such  persons  belonging  to  this  town  as  have,  or  ma}- 
hereafter  enlist  in  and  enter  the  service  of  our  country  under  the 
call  of  our  governor  for  volunteers  in  aid  of  quieting  the  pres- 
ent rebellion."  Thus  the  second  volume  of  the  official  history  of 
Plymouth  began  as  the  first  ended,  with  provisions  for  National 
welfare  and  defense  in  time  of  peril.  Pra}'  God,  that  in  the 
years  to  come,  it  may  end  as  the  first  began,  with  the  record  of 
wise  measures  for  the  welfare  of  a  united  community  ;  a  unit  in 
a  union,  whose  states  constitute  a  nation,  presided  over  by  a 
Chief  Magistrate,  who,  although  he  shall  never  have  known  war, 
shall  be  because  of  true  statesmanship,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in 
the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 

The  first  conveyance  of  land  in  the  town  of  Plymouth,  with 
the  record  of  which  its  land  records  begin,  Vol.  i,  page  i,  is 
dated  April  29,  179=1;  received  June  24,  1795,  and  is  from  Noah 
Upson  to  Daniel  Rowe.  It  conveyed  two  acres,  and  the  consid- 
eration expressed  is  seven  pounds,  lawful  money.  There  appears 
to  have  been  considerable  activitv  in  real  estate  at  that  time,  for 
during  the  first  twelve  months  114  warranty  deeds,  besides  other 
con\'evances,  were  recorded. 

Plymouth  was  made  a  separate  Probate  District  in  1S33. 
Tlie  first  Probate  Court  in  the  new  district  was  held  June  20, 
1S33.  Tlie  first  official  act  was  granting  administration  on  the 
intestate  estate  of  Cornelia  Fenn.  On  the  next  day  June  21st, 
the  first  testate  estate  came  in,  that  of  Amos  Mallorv.  Tlie  first 
inventory  returned  was  that  of  said  Mallor\  's  estate,  on  August 
23,  1833.  The  entire  property  was  about  $1,000,  including  the 
librarv,  valued  at  $1.92,  composed  of  the  following  five  items: 
I  ]^>ible,  75  cents;  Explanation  New  Testament,  42  cents;  Scrip- 
ture of  Regeneration,  25  cents;  Watts'  Hymns,  25  cents;  Dr. 
Trumbull's  Sermons,  2:;  cents.  Small  as  this  may  seem  in  the 
wav  of  literature,  the  next  seven  inventories  returned  do  not 
show  as  well.  The  only  books  in  anv  of  them  are  Bibles,  and 
only  three  of  those  out  of  the  seven.  Then  came  the  inventory 
of  Rev.  Luther  Hart's  estate:  Total,  $7,202.67,  including 
librarv  appraised  at  $i,!5oo 

It  is  the  fortune — ought  I,  or  ought  I  not  to  say  the  niisfor 
tune — of  such  a  town  as  Plvmouth,  to  be  the  cradle,  the  nursury, 
of  men  whose  activities  in  life  are  devoted  to  the  develo]>ment  of 
other  communities,  the  building  up  of  other  places.      The  extent 
to  which   this  is  true  can   linrdh'  be  stated,  but  a  single  instance 


CKXTENiN'IAI.    CELEHKA HON. 


/:> 


iiiav  perhaps  illustrate  it.  In  1S77,  a  suggestion  was  made  that 
the  former  residents  of  Plymouth,  then  residing  in  Bridgeport  in 
this  State,  be  called  together  for  a  social  evening.  The  sugges- 
tion was  carried  out,  and  on  the  evening  appointed,  although 
doubtless,  some  were  not  known  and  therefore  not  invited,  and 
some  of  those  invited  wcic  not  able  to  attend,  upwards  of 
seventy-five  were  present.  1  do  not  doubt  that  there  are  other 
places  in  this  State  and  probably  places  in  other  States  that 
could  muster  as  many.  And  1  wish  with  all  my  heart  they 
would  muster,  whatever  their  numl)ers  and  wherever  they  are, 
and  gathered  thus  together  recognize  the  common  tie  which 
binds  them  to  each  other,  and  to  the  dear  old  town  from  which 
the\-  have  wandered.  I  need  not  say  to  you  that  the  occasion  in 
question  was  one  of  rare  interest ;  its  proceedings  were  published 
and  embrace  a  historical  sketch  by  the  late  Deacon  Joel  Blakes- 
lee,  a  poem  and  short  speeches,  all  breathing  afiection  for 
Plymouth. 

If  I  were  now  tD  sum  up  in  a  few  words  the  history  of  Plv- 
mouth  for  the  first  two-thirds  of  its  corporate  existence,  for  the 
period  which  the  first  volume  of  its  town  records  embrace,  I 
should  say  that  it  appears  to  me  to  be  a  fair  t}pe  of  a  representa- 
tive New  England  town,  worthv  of  the  name  which  it  derived 
from  its  first  settlers,  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  Puritan  stock 
and  descent  ;  a  typical  New  England  communit} ,  with  the 
interests,  the  thoughts,  the  activities,  the  peculiarities;  m  a  word, 
the  life  of  such  a  community.  And  if  there  is  a  better  life  on 
this  earth  anywhere,  I  should  be  glad  indeed  to  learn  where  to 
find  it.  I  know  that  during  the  late  war,  thousands  of  Union 
soldiers,  thinking,  oh,  how  fondly,  as  they  faded  and  wasted 
away  in  rebel  prisons,  of  just  such  communities,  whispered  of 
them  to  each  other  by  the  name  of  "Home"  and  "God's  coun- 
try ;  "  a  community,  which  though  it  gave  freely  of  its  best  to  the 
world  at  large,  has  always  kept  a  fair  part  of  its  best  for  itself, 
and  for  its  own  enrichment;  a  community  interested  in  good 
laws,  good  government,  good  morals  ;  in  education,  progress, 
religion.  In  later  years,  perhaps,  like  other  semi-rural  com- 
munities, too  much  neglecting  its  farms  for  the  sake  of  its  shops. 
Draining  and  denuding  its  hills  to  fructify-  and  beautify  its 
valleys.  But  always,  I  think,  as  a  whole,  as  a  unit,  as  a  town, 
to  whatever  means  and  methods  and  avocations,  its  children 
turned  for  sustenance  and  support,  recognizing  the  divine  truths 
that  the  life  is  more  than  meat,  the  body  more  than  raiment,  and 
that  man,  the  image  of  the  Creator,  does  not  live  by  bread  alone. 
And  so,  as  in  the  progress  of  time  its  streams  have  been  put  at 
labor  to  carry  the  machinery  of  its  factories,  and  iron  highwavs 
traversed  by  steam  have  supplanted  its  wagon  roads  for  traffic, 
when  it  has  been  lirought  bv  railroads,  telegraph  and  telephone 
out  of  the  woods  and  solitudes,  and  into  touch  and  contact  with 
the  throbbing  pulse  of  a  world-wide  humanity,  it  has  still  kept, 
and  let  us  trust  it  will  ever  keep,  a  touch  and  fellowship  with 
Him,  whose  everlasting  arms  are  underneath,  holding  whose 
hand  in  tinist,  our  fathers  walked,  rather  b\-  faith  than  sight,  into 


176  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

the  wilderness,  and  made  it  blossom  like  a  rose.  The  fathers 
are  gone,  as  we  too  shall  go.  But  let  us  preserve  sacredly  our 
sacred  birthright  and  inheritance.  Let  us  leave  to  our  children, 
as  they  to  theirs,  to  us,  the  faith  that  makes  faithful ;  the  perfect 
love  that  casteth  out  fear  ;  and  the  trust  that  endureth  to  the  end. 

In  1S61,  the  war  of  the  rebellion — the  war  for  the  Union — 
began  at  Fort  Sumter.  It  ended  at  Appomatox  in  1S65,  thirty 
years  ago.  In  that  great  struggle,  Plymouth  did  its  full  share. 
Its  loyalty  was  unbounded  ;  its  devotion  sublime.  It  gave  to  it 
the  strength  of  its  manhood,  tiie  flower  of  its  youth.  Wherever 
Connecticut  men  went  in  that  conflict  (and  where  was  there, 
the  conflict  raged,  that  Connecticut  men  did  not  go.?),  the  sons 
of  old  Plymouth  were  with  them,  in  all  three  hundred  strong. 
They  were  in  the  First  Cavalry.  Erastus  Blakeslee  was  its 
adjutant,  afterwards,  its  colonel.  Bray  ton  Ives,  grandson  of 
venerable  Truman  Ives,  of  Town  Hill,  was  also  its  colonel. 
Leonard  P.  Goodwin  was  its  major.  They  were  in  the  Second 
New  York  Cavalry.  Augustus  Martinson  was  a  lieutenant 
there.  He  was  killed.  So  the  old  question,  "Did  anyone  ever 
see  a  dead  cavalryman?"  was  answered,  "Many  of  us  have  seen 
them."  There  were  no  braver  men  anywhere  than  in  the 
cavalry,  and  there  was  no  more  useful  arm  of  the  service.  Dorence 
Atwater  was  in  that  regiment,  and  he  saved  to  the  nation  the 
dead  roll  at  Andersonvllle.  They  were  in  the  First  and  Second 
Light  Batteries.  They  were  in  the  First  Connecticut  Heavy 
Artillery,  that  famous  regiment,  originally  the  Fourth  Infantry. 
How  well  do  I  remember  they  were  there.  It  was  my  privilege 
to  enroll  my  name  among  the  list  that  went  to  make  our  company 
of  that  regiment,  enlisted  from  Plymouth  and  Torrington,  and  it 
lingers  in  my  mind  to-day,  as  one  of  the  saddest  spots  in  a  life 
that  has  had  its  sorrows,  that  when  one  bright  spring  day,  the 
two  squads  met  for  final  organization  at  Campville,  as  a  halfway 
place,  I  found  there  were  more  names  upon  the  roll  than  were 
required  to  fill  the  company.  The  fittest  were  taken,  and  Homer 
E.  Cook,  of  Terryville,  and  myself  were  left.  Poor  fellows. 
As  we  walked  back  home  that  afternoon,  over  the  dusty  road 
and  through  the  woods,  we  felt  that  we  should  rather  face  the 
entire  Confederate  army  single  handed,  than  meet  again  the 
people  at  home.  But  time  has  its  revenges.  Poor  Homer  Cook, 
worthy  man  that  he  was,  lived  to  compel  the  people  of  Plymouth 
to  stand  and  deliver  their  money  to  him  for  many  years  in  the 
shape  of  taxes,  and  as  for  myself,  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  see 
a  little  fighting  after  all,  before  the  war  closed,  and  to  be,  on  one 
bright  Sunday  in  April,  iS6^,  near  a  certain  famous  apple  tree 
at  Appomatox,  Va.,  and  where  I  was  the  boys  of  old  Plymouth, 
belonging  to  Co.  D.,  of  the  vSecond  Heavy  Artillery,  were  also. 

Again,  the  citizens  of  Plymouth  were  in  that  fighting  regi- 
ment, the  old  Fifth.  In  the  Sixth,  Eugene  Atwater  was  a 
captain.  In  the  Seventh,  Eighth,  Ninth,  Tenth,  Eleventh, 
Twelfth,  Thirteenth,  Fifteenth,  Sixteenth,  Seventeenth,  Twen- 
tieth, Twenty-fifth,  Twenty-ninth. 

Last,  but  not  least,  may  I  speak  of  them   in   the  old  Nine- 


CENTENNIAI.    CKLK15H ATION.  I  77 

teentli,  aftervvaitls  the  Secoiul  Connecticut  Heavy  Artillery. 
Tiie  Litchlield  County  Regiment,  Company  D,  of  the  old  Nine- 
teenth, contained  eighty-six  officers  and  men,  of  whom  fifty-three 
were  from  Plymouth,  eighteen  from  Watertown,  thirteen  from 
Harwinton,  one  from  Burlington,  one  from  Alorris.  The  aver- 
age age  of  those  eighty-six  men  was,  I  suppose,  not  more  than 
twenty-five  years.  It  was  probably  less.  They  were  examined 
and  passed  as  sound,  healthy  persons.  Under  the  ordinary  con- 
ditions ol"  civil  life,  during  the  three  years  of  their  term  of  service, 
not  more  than  five  of  their  number  woidd  have  been  like!}'  to 
ha\c  died.  That  would  have  been  an  annual  average  of  two  in 
a  hundred.  What  was  the  fact.^  Of  those  eighty-six  thirty- 
seven  were  wounded  ;  thirty-one  were  killed  or  died  of  wounds 
or  disease ;  thirty-four  only  remained  to  be  mustered  out  at  the 
close  of  their  term  of  service.  Adding  to  the  death-roll,  those 
who  afterward  died  of  wounds  received  in  battle,  or  disability, 
contracted  in  the  service,  it  is  entirely  within  bounds  to  say  that 
(jne-half  of  those  eighty-six  men  died  as  the  result  of  their  devo- 
tion to  their  country's  cause,  while  it  is  also,  in  my  sincere  belief, 
true,  that  not  one  man  in  that  entire  number  left  the  service  in  as 
good  a  physical  condition  and  with  as  good  chances  for  long  life, 
as  when  he  entered  it.  Now  these  men  knew  the  risks  they  took 
when  they  started.  The\'  understood,  they  realized  what  they 
were  doing,  and  they  did  it  deliberately.  There  were  boys  in 
that  company,  in  their  teens.  Boys  who  were  the  hopes  of 
fathers;  the  pride  of  fond  mothers;  dutiful  sons  who  would  not 
have  gone  without  their  parents'  consent.  And  they  went  with 
that  consent,  and  their  parents  knew  what  it  meant.  Other  boys 
had  gone  from  other  Plymouth  homes  before  them,  in  the  First 
Connecticut  Artillery,  and  in  other  regiments,  and  had  been 
brought  home  dead  and  laid  away  in  the  cemeteries  of  our  town. 
Some  had  not  come  home,  and  would  never  come,  alive  or  dead. 
Their  parents  knew  this,  and  they  let  their  sons  go.  Wives 
knew  it,  and  they  bid  their  husbands  God-speed.  Even  children, 
and  they  kissed  their  fathers,  and  said  good-bye.  Why  was  all 
this.''  Oh,  my  friends,  you  who  lived  in  those  days  know  wdiy  it 
was,  as  only  you  can  know.  Love  of  covmtry  was  stronger  than 
the  love  of  life.  Better  death  for  its  honor,  than  life  if  it  came 
to  disgrace.  And  so,  in  the  defence  of  Washington ;  in  the 
charges  at  Cold  Harbor;  in  the  trenches  before  Petersburg;  fac- 
ing the  rebel  batteries  at  Winchester  ;  sweeping  down  the  slopes 
of  Fisher's  Hill ;  and  in  the  sunken  road  at  Cedar  Creek  ;  as  on 
many  another  battlefield,  and  in  many  another  regiment,  the 
men  of  Plymouth  laid  down  their  lives,  a  willing  sacrifice  upon 
the  altar  of  their  country.  Nor  did  they  die  in  vain.  By  their 
sacrifice,  by  their  blood,  was  generated  that  new  birth  of  free- 
dom, out  of  which  came  that  assurance  for  all  time,  which  the 
immortal  words  of  Lincoln  declared  on  the  field  of  Gettysburg, 
that  "government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  peo- 
ple, shall  not  perisli  from  the  earth." 

I  purposely  refrain  from   speaking  the  names  of  those  con- 
nected with  the  service,  who  seem  to  me  entitled  to  special  men- 


lyS  JlISrOKV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

tion.  I  do  tliis  because  in  the  first  place,  time  will  not  allow  me 
to  do  justice  to  all,  and  I  would  not  by  allusion  to  some  and 
omission  ol"  others  seem  to  discriminate  to  the  injustice  of  any. 
Again,  the  means  of  observation  of  each  person  ditiers,  and  as  a 
result,  were  I  to  speak  of  individuals,  as  they  appear  to  me,  1 
might  on  one  hand  speak  of  some  more  highly  than  others  would 
rec(jgnize  as  their  due,  and  on  the  other  fail  to  confer  praise 
where  it  was  felt  to  be  at  least  equally  called  for.  Besides,  to 
my  thinking,  the  honor  comes  from  the  willing  service  and  true 
devotion.  And  whether  that  service  resulted  in  a  general's  star, 
or  an  unmarked  soldier's  grave,  is  but  an  incident.  The  path  of 
duty  was  the  way  to  glory,  and  it  led  alike  to  both. 

Nor  passing  from  military  service,  would  I  speak  much  or 
of  many  of  those  belonging  to  this  town,  who  in  civil  lite  have 
won  distinction  here  or  elsewhere. 

I  have,  however,  mentioned  some  of  its  clergymen,  and  I 
may  be  pardoned  a  passing  reference  to  a  few  of  its  more  promi- 
nent men  in  the  ranks  of  other  professions.  There  have  been 
man}'  physicians  here.  Of  those  now  in  practice,  skillful  and 
useful  as  any  who  preceded  them,  though  they  may  be,  it  is  not 
fitting  that  I  should  speak.  Of  those  now  gone,  I  will  only  say, 
that  there  have  been  three,  one  in  each  section  of  the  old  town, 
before  its  division,  unlike  to  each  other  as  were  the  sections  in 
which  they  lived,  who,  taking  them  all  in  all,  considering  their 
skill,  their  character,  their  citizenship,  their  faithful  service,  are 
worthy  of  special  remembrance:  William  Woodrufi,  of  Thomas- 
ton,  Samuel  T.  vSalisbury,  of  Plymouth  Center,  Franklin  J. 
Whittemore,  of  Terryville. 

Of  the  legal  profession,  in  memory  of  the  same  qualities  to 
which  I  have  just  referred,  there  have  been  three  also  who  shoidd 
be  named  :  Calvin  Butler,  Elisha  Johnson,  and  Ammi  Giddings. 
The  two  last  each  lived  here  for  many  years,  filling  spheres  of 
great  usefulness,  careful  counsellors,  trusted  advisors.  They 
were  your  judges  of  probate,  town  clerks,  registrars.  Thev  each 
represented  the  town  in  the  lower  house,  and  the  senatorial  dis- 
trict in  the  upper  house  of  the  General  Assembly.  They  each 
went  away  to  find  what  they  deemed  wider  fields,  and  perhaps  I 
violate  no  confidence  which  I  ought  to  keep,  when  I  say,  that  I 
have  heard  both  regret,  as  I  also  regretted,  that  they  went. 

Of  Calvin  Butler,  probably  the  present  generation  knows 
much  less.  A  brief  sketch  of  his  life  may  be  found  in  an  appen- 
dix to  the  Fifteenth  Vol.  Connecticut  Reports.  He  was  born  in 
what  is  now  Wolcott,  in  1772;  removed  with  his  parents  while 
a  child  to  New  Marlboro,  Mass.  He  was  two  years  in  Williams 
College,  then  studied  law;  commenced  practice  in  1800,  in 
New  Canaan,  Conn.  Next  vear  he  went  to  Bristol,  where  he 
remained  until  1806,  when  he  removed  to  Plymouth,  where  he 
resided  until  his  death  in  1S44.  He  represented  this  town  in  the 
General  Assembly  of  this  State  in  1S14,  181^,  1816,  1S17,  iSiS, 
1S31,  1832,  and  1S2S.  He  was  a  member  of  tlie  convention 
whicli  formed  the  constitution  of  this  vState  in  iSiS.  He  rejire- 
sented    the    sixteenth    senatorial    district    in    the    vSenate   in  1S32. 


CKNTEXXIAJ.    CKI.K15KA  1  ION.  I  79 

Pie  was  for  very  niaiiv  years  town  clerk.  When  Phniouth 
became  a  probate  district  in  1S33,  he  was  appointed  its  first 
judge,  and  remained  in  ottice  until  disqualified  by  age,  in  1S42. 
He  was  also  at  one  time  judge  of  the  old  county  couit  tbi-  the 
County  of  Litchlield.  He  died  suddenly  while  away  from  home, 
but  liis  dust  is  in  our  cemetery,  and  he  left  the  reputation  of  a 
faithful  public  servant,  a  competent  and  careful  lawyer,  and  an 
honest  man. 

Of  all  the  men  born  in  Plymouth,  who  have  gone  from  heie 
to  lives  of  great  distinction  and  usefulness  elsewhere,  there  is 
onlv  one  of  whom  I  feel  that  1  ought  to  take  time  to  speak  to-day. 
I  refer  to  Junius  Smith,  LL.  D.,  who  was  born  in  Northbury 
parish  in  1780.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College ;  at  the  Litch- 
field Law  School,  and  settled  as  a  lawyer  in  New  Haven.  In 
1S05  he  went  to  England,  and  there  engaged  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits, with  varying  fortunes,  until  183J.  He  then  interested  him- 
self in  the  cause  of  trans  Atlantic  steam  navigation,  convinced 
that  the  ocean  coidd  be  crossed  by  steam.  He  was  met  with 
incredulity.  He  undertook  to  charter  a  vessel  for  an  experiment, 
but  had  no  success.  He  tried  to  organize  a  company,  but  men 
of  science  declared  that  no  steamer  could  survive  the  terrible 
storms  that  sweep  the  Atlantic.  Not  a  single  share  of  stock  was 
taken.  Notwithstanding  this,  he  persevered.  I  cannot  detail 
the  struggles  of  six  years,  but  the  indomitable  will  of  a  Plymouth 
boy  conquered,  and  in  1S3S,  the  Sirius,  a  steamer  of  700  tons, 
sailed  from  Cork  on  the  4th  day  of  April  and  reached  New  York 
on  the  23d,  the  first  vessel  that  steamed  her  wav  across  the 
Atlantic,  and  one  of  our  boys  did  it. 

Of  the  many  men  whose  energy,  enterprise  and  clear  fore- 
sight have  been  vitally  useful  to  this  community  in  the  develop- 
ment of  its  resources;  the  employment  of  its  inhabitants;  the 
building  of  its  great  industries — three  men  distinguished  as 
founders  will  always  be  held  in  special  honor:  Seth  Thomas, 
Eli  Terry,  Silas  Hoadley.  The  first  has  given  his  name  to  the 
new  town  in  the  valley  which  came  from  our  soil.  The  second 
has  bestowed  his,  through  his  son,  Eli  Terrv,  Jr.,  upon  the 
village  in  which  we  are  assembled  to-dav.  The  third,  less  fort- 
unate, has  ceased  to  be  remembered  even  in  the  appellation  of 
the  small  hamlet,  which  once  was  called  Hoadleyville.  But  it 
matters  little.  He  was  in  many  respects  the  peer  of  the  other 
two  men.  His  life  ^vas  one  of  great  usefulness,  and  whenever 
the  early  history  of  Plvmouth  is  written,  or  whenever  it  mav  be 
recalled,  his  place  in  it  is  secure  for  all  time.  Of  one  of  these 
men,  and  of  one  only  in  this  place,  and  in  his  presence,  it  is 
fitting  that  I  should  speak  somewhat  to-dav.  Eli  Terr\-  was 
born  in  East  Windsor,  April  13,  1773.  He  learned  the  business 
of  clock  making,  and  became  deeplv  interested  in  such  of  the 
arts  and  sciences  as  have  a  bearing  on  the  construction  ot  instru- 
ments for  measuring  time.  Pie  came  to  Northburv  parish  in 
September,  i793i  «i'"i<l  started  the  business  of  clock  making.  It 
is  probable  he  used  a  knife,  as  well  as  manv  other  tools  then 
in   use,  in   doing  the  woik.      So  limited  was  the  demand  at  that 


loo  HlS'l'OKY    OF     PJA'MOUTH. 

time,  that  after  finishing  three  or  four,  he  was  obliged  to  go  out  on 
horseback  with  them,  and  put  them  up  where  they  had  previously 
been  sold.  But  it  is  not  my  province  to  detail  the  history  of  the 
manufacturing  industries  of  Pl)mouth.  That  part  was  allotted  to 
and  has  already  been  discharged  by  one  much  more  competent. 
I  am  thinking  more  of  the  man.  He  was  a  person  of  great 
energy.  He  not  only  helped  to  lay  the  foundation  of  Thomaston, 
but  afterwards  of  Terryville,  to  which  he  removed  and  where  he 
died.  He  was  successful  in  business,  accumulating  what  was  a 
large  fortune  in  his  day.  It  is  said  that  he  distributed  to  his 
family,  and  gave  away  to  different  objects  during  the  latter  part 
of  his  life,  not  less  than  $100,000,  retaining  at  the  same  time  an 
amount  of  available  property  sufficient  to  afford  him  an  annual 
income  of  $3,000,  which  he  regarded  as  sufficient  for  all  his 
temporal  wants.  He  said  that  when  he  commenced  business,  he 
never  once  thought  of  accumulating  one-tenth  of  that  amount. 
He  was  a  self-made  man,  with  not  much  early  education,  and 
not  a  wide  range  of  reading,  but  he  understood  his  business 
thoroughly.  He  was  plain  and  practical.  His  manners  were 
blunt,  his  waj's  original  and  peculiai,  but  he  was  a  man  of  the 
strictest  integrity,  and  he  had  the  confidence,  respect  and  esteem 
of  all  who  knew  him.      He  died  in  1852  at  the  age  of  eighty. 

I  had  purposed  to  trespass  upon  your  patience  no  longer 
than  one  hour,  and  but  little  of  that  space  of  time  remains. 
Perhaps,  however,  but  little  concerning  the  history  of  Plymouth 
since  the  close  of  the  war  need  be  said.  The  years  succeeding 
the  end  of  that  great  struggle  were  busy  and  prosperous  ones. 
So  much  so,  that  notwithstanding  the  ravages  wrought,  the 
census  of  1870  showed,  as  we  have  already  seen,  a  marked  in- 
crease over  that  of  i860.  Our  population  had  then  become  the 
largest  of  any  town  in  Litchfield  county.  In  1875,  after  a  legis- 
lative struggle  of  three  years,  Thomaston  became  an  independ- 
ent town,  taking  all  its  territory  from  the  old  town,  thus  dividing 
population,  territory  and  grand  list.  The  old  town  regretted 
the  necessity  of  division,  but  in  the  main,  as  I  believe  and  trust, 
the  kindliest  of  feelings  have  continued  to  exist  between  the  sec- 
tions.  Though  separated  in  government,  in  many  respects  Ply- 
mouth and  Thomaston  are  and  must  ever  remain  united.  After 
the  lapse  of  a  score  of  years,  it  may  at  least  be  said,  I  think,  that 
neither  town  has  found  its  prosperity  impaired,  as  a  result  of 
the  division. 

Considering  the  times  through  which  we  have  passed,  the 
age  in  which  we  live,  the  temptations  which  beset  the  enthusiastic 
and  ambitious  youth,  eager  to  get  on  to  seek  other  and  laiger 
spheres  of  enterprise  ;  to  leave  the  rocky  farms  and  the  modest 
workshops  for  smoother  acres  or  more  alluring  avocations — the 
mystery  is  not  that  the  old  town  has  failed  to  show  a  rate  of 
increase ;  the  wonder  is  that  it  has  done  so  well  and  held,  or  so 
nearly  held  its  own.  All  honor  for  this.  First  to  God,  who  led 
our  forefathers  as  they  journeyed  into  the  wilderness  and  trans- 
planted them  as  offshoots  from  a  sturdy  vine,  by  the  river  in  the 
North   Country,  leaving   them    there   in   trust   that  He  who  had 


CENTKXNIAr.    ClCI.KliHATlON.  151 

transplanted  would  sustain.  Next,  thanks  and  praise  to  those 
men  and  women,  who,  proof  against  temptations  to  emigrate, 
have  deemed  the  old  soil  good  enough  for  tliem,  save  to  the  ex- 
tent that  they  by  their  lives  of  labor  could  improve  it,  and  make 
the  town  better  because  they  continued  to  live  in  it.  Let  this 
day  then  be  one  not  in  glorification  of  those,  who,  yielding  to 
temptation,  left  home,  however  well  they  may  have  fared  else- 
where, but  let  such  as  their  only  hope  of  forgiveness,  vie  with 
others  in  expressions  of  appreciation  of  those  more  loyal  tlian 
they,  who  did  not  not  do  likewise. 

Such  then,  in  retrospect,  has  been  the  first  hundred  vears  in 
the  life  of  our  dear  old  mother  Plymouth.  What  in  prospect  is 
the  next  hundred  years  likely  to  be.''  Will  she  fare  better  or  will 
she  fare  worse  .^  None  save  God  can  tell.  Whether  the  drain  of 
the  village,  the  town,  the  city,  the  West,  the  lev}'  of  the  shop,  the 
store,  the  railroads,  the  trades,  professions  and  avocations  of  an 
era  of  tense  struggling,  nervous,  energetic  existence,  that  has 
already  brought  so  much  of  exhaustion  to  its  hills  and  its  valleys, 
will  continue,  or  abate.  Whether  the  tide  of  life  will  still  ebb 
out  or  flow  back.  Will  the  farms  be  abandoned  or  pass  into 
hands  alien  to  our  soil,  our  institutions,  our  blood,  or  will  those 
who  went  from  them  in  the  flush  of  their  young  manhood  to 
furnish  activities  elsewhere  be  glad  in  the  years  that  are  to  come 
to  return  again,  bringing  the  exterior  gifts  of  fortune  and  the 
fragments  ot  their  lives,  to  the  abodes  of  their  childhood  ;  bring- 
ing the  tottering  steps  of  age  to  the  daisied  fields  where  their  feet 
tottered  when  they  were  as  near  the  dawn  of  life,  as  they  have 
come  to  the  darkness  and  night.'  And  its  shops,  will  they 
enlarge.'^  Or,  as  electricity  offers  its  aid  to  transfer  the  water 
power  to  distant  locations,  or  competition  grows  more  fierce, 
consolidation  more  voracious,  will  they  pass  with  the  employ- 
ment they  afford  to  other  sites,  leaving  the  places  here  that  once 
knew  tliem,  to  know  them  no  more  forever.  In  the  ordering  of 
a  wise  Heaven,  which  hides  from  all  creatures  the  book  of  fate, 
we  may  not  know.  But  if,  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  there 
shall  be  here  happy  homes,  abodes  of  thrift,  honest  toil,  content 
and  love,  where  children  are  born  to  be  welcomed,  nourished, 
nurtured,  taught,  to  grow  healthy,  virtuous,  strong,  bright-faced 
boys,  radiant  girls,  noble  men,  sweet  women,  whose  after  lives, 
whether  here  or  elsewhere,  shall  make  the  world  better  because 
they  pass  through  it  on  their  way.  If  here  shall  be  churches  for 
worship,  family  altars  for  praver,  schools  for  education,  libraries 
for  culture,  firesides,  social  gatherings,  and  home  comings  for 
cheer.  If,  when  our  countrv  requires  men  for  her  defense,  she 
shall  find  them  as  she' has  found  them  here,  readv  and  glad  to  do, 
to  dare,  to  die  for  her.  If,  when  hmnanitv  needs,  the  love  of  others 
shalll  pass  the  love  of  self.  If,  when  (jod  calls,  it  shall  matter  not 
what  the  duty  is,  and  the  onlv  replv  shall  be,  "  Thv  will  be 
done,"  surelv  then,  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  this  shall  be  a 
spot  beloved  of  all  its  children,  worthv  to  be  their  working  place 
in  life,  their  resting  place  in  death.  A  resting  place  from  which, 
when  the  summons  comes  to   pass  to  hea\en,  thev  who  did  their 


1 82  HISTORY    OP'    PLVMOUIII. 

best  on  earth  to  make  it  here,  will  not  have  far  to  go  to  find  it 
there. 

Mr.  Pond — ^VVe  are  to  be  favored  by  a  short  address  by  the 
Rev.  M.  J.  Daly  of  Thomaston,  and  of  the  Catholic  church  in 
our  village. 

Rev.  AI.  J.  Daly — Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and  gentlemen:  I 
am  deeply  sensible  of  the  honor  conferred  on  me  in  being  asked 
to  take  a  part  in  this  centennial  celebration,  and  while  not  a  resi- 
dent of  the  town  of  Plymouth,  our  intercourse  is  so  close  and 
our  visits  so  frequent,  that  whatever  aftects  the  interests  of  Ply- 
mouth concerns  us.  And,  besides  being  a  resident  of  Thomaston, 
Plymouth's  first  born,  we  have,  at  least  in  part,  a  right  to  partici- 
pate in  the  joys  of  this  day  ;  to  share  in  the  glory  of  the  triumphs 
and  successes  achieved  during  the  last  hundred  years,  when  our 
interests  were  identical,  before  the  separation  took  place,  when 
you  and  we  were  one. 

You  have  listened  with  pleasure  and  pride,  no  doubt,  to  the 
beautiful  and  chaste  address  prepared  by  one  of  your  own  dis- 
tinguished townsmen,  whose  absence  to-day  we  all  regret, — and 
for  whose  complete  restoration  to  health  we  all  pray, — the  loving 
tribute  of  a  devoted  and  generous  son  to  a  venerable  and  worthy 
mother,  so  comprehensive  and  complete  as  to  render  any  other 
remarks  needless.  Nevertheless,  I  cannot  help  availing  myself 
of  this  opportunity  of  paying  my  tribute  of  respect,  small  though 
it  be,  to  the  sons  and  daughters  of  this  now  prosperous  town. 

Let  us  go  back  in  spirit  a  hundred  years  and  try  to  realize 
the  trials  and  hardships  of  the  first  early  settlers.  These  eternal 
hills  which  dot  your  town  like  so  many  sentinel  towers  are  not 
inviting  to  the  husbandman,  the  soil  in  general  is  not  fertile; 
nevertheless,  by  industry  and  perseverance  most  of  it  has  been 
brought  to  a  state  of  cultivation  little  inferior  to  the  best  in  this 
commonwealth.  The  early  settlers  were  thrifty  and  hard-work- 
ing, and  success  crowned  all  their  undertakings.  Why? 
Because  constant  endeavor  attended  their  efforts.  In  war,  they 
were  brave  and  gallant  soldiers ;  in  peace,  law-abiding,  God 
fearing  citizens.  Their  inventive  genius  is  world-wide.  To 
him  after  whom  your  beautiful  village  is  named  we  owe  the  first 
time-piece  in  the  way  of  a  clock  on  this  continent,  and  to  those 
who  succeed  him  is  due  the  credit  of  making  Plymouth  known 
throughout  the  civilized  world,  for  wherever  von  go  to-day  you 
are  sure  to  find  a  Seth  Thomas  clock.  And  if  clocks  and 
watches  are  useful  to  tell  the  time  of  day,  locks  are  very  con- 
venient to  secure  them  and  other  treasures  through  the  night, 
and  here  again  Plymouth  comes  to  the  rescue.  See  your 
mammoth  iniilding  down  there,  with  its  hundreds  of  hands,  turn- 
ing out  thousands,  perhaps  I  should  have  said  millions,  of  locks 
during  the  year,  the  result  of  the  industry,  enterprise  and  energy 
of  Plvmouth  citizens. 

You  have  your  iron  works  rising  up  once  more  from  the 
ruins,  to  be  larger  and  grander  and  more  beautiful  than  before, 
and  consequently  better  able  to  contribute  their  proportion  to 
the  growth  of  the  town.     You  have  had  your  carriage  industry 


CHNTKNNIAI.    CEl.KBKATION.  1 83 

in  Plymouth,  which  prospered  on  Piymoutli  Hill  before  advant- 
ages in  navigation,  tran^portation,  and  location,  deprived  you  of 
them.  I  might  refer  to  the  many  other  industries  of  your  town, 
but  they  are  all  known  to  you.  Let  us  hope  that  with  the 
change  for  the  better  in  the  commercial  world,  every  bench  in 
these  shops  will  be  occupied,  every  wheel  revolving,  and  the 
home  of  every  operator  filled  with  plenty  and  good  cheer. 

Plymouth's  sons  are  warriors  ;  they  have  ibught  the  battles 
of  their  country.  They  contributed  their  portion  of  patriotic 
citizens  to  the  Union  cause,  and  when  the  strife  was  over,  when 
the  victory  was  won,  they  returned  to  their  homes,  and  since 
then  have  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  their  ways,  sending  legisla- 
tors to  our  Capitol,  giving  candidates  to  the  medical  profession, 
to  law,  and  to  the  sacred  ministry. 

There  is  no  more  forcible  example  of  the  worth  of  Ply- 
mouth's children  than  the  history  of  him  who  was  to  have 
delivered  the  address  on  this  occasion.  He  was  a  gallant  and 
brave  soldier,  and  wore  the  blue  and  fought  for  the  Union,  and 
came  home,  and  is  now  honored  with  the  ermine  as  a  just  and 
upright  judge.  Plymouth  has  had  a  Woodruft",  and  she  still  has 
a  Whittemore,  a  Bradstreet,  a  Woods,  a  Warner,  a  Goodwin, 
a  Higgins,  and  many  others  who  are  of  the  medical  profession, 
and  while  it  is  true  that  the  Fenn  family  seem  to  be  born 
lawyers,  seem  to  come  into  the  world  with  a  legal  spoon  in  their 
mouths,  to  be  an  ornament  to  the  bar  as  well  as  to  the  bench,  it 
is  nevertheless  true  that  the  Bradstreets,  and  the  Scotts,  and  the 
Plums,  are  close  competitors  in  their  chosen  profession. 

Plymouth  has  contributed  her  portion  to  the  sacred  ministry, 
and  to-day  Plymouth's  children  are  discharging  their  sacred 
duties  to  many  congregations.  She  has  given  children  who  have 
been  and  are  the  benefactors  of  every  charity,  without  regard  to 
class  or  color  or  creed.  The  very  soil  on  which  you  stand  is  the 
gift  of  one  of  Plymouth's  children,  and  if — which  God  forbid — 
the  name  of  your  illustrious  benefactor  should  ever  become 
extinct,  this  beautiful  park  and  all  its  surroundings  will  per- 
petuate for  all  time  the  honored  name  of  Baldwin. 

Yes,  in  all  the  callings  and  avocations  of  life — in  agriculture, 
in  mechanics,  in  statesmanship,  in  the  fine  arts,  in  medicine, 
law,  and  the  sacred  ministry,  Plymouth  has  given  children  that 
have  discharged  their  duties  with  credit  to  themselves  and  honor 
to  their  native  town.  And,  my  dear  friends,  what  is  true  of 
Plymouth's  sons  is  in  their  own  sphere  true  of  Plymouth's 
daughters.  If  the  former  are  brave  as  the  bravest,  the  latter  are 
fair  as  the  fairest.  They  are  the  peers  of  any  in  the  land  ;  for 
grace  and  dignitv  and  all  womanly  accomplishments  they  have 
no  superiors,  and  while  it  is  true  and  possible  that  one  of  Ply- 
mouth's sons  may  be  called  upon  to  fill  the  highest  position  in 
this  grandest  land  on  the  face  of  God's  earth  and  occupy  the 
Presidential  chair,  it  is,  at  least  to  mind,  far  more  probable  that 
one  of  Plymouth's  fi^ir  daughters  will  be  called  upon  to  preside 
as  mistress  of  the  White  House. 

Let  then  the  good  work  go  on;    let  the  achievements,  the 


184  HISTOKV    UK    PI.YMOUTH. 

triumphs,  the  successes  ol"  the  past  hundred  years,  stimuhite  us 
to  larger  undertakings,  to  greater  achievements,  to  new  con- 
quests, so  that  when  we  come  to  celebrate  the  second  centennial 
your  children  and  your  children's  children  will  rise  up  and  bless 
your  names  and  the  names  of  your  sires,  for  having  laid  a  founda- 
tion so  solid  and  enduring  that  time  cannot  change  or  enemies 
destroy.  A  hundred  years  of  self-government,  a  hundred  years 
of  triumphs,  a  hundred  years  of  enlightenment,  a  hundred  years 
of  growth  and  prosperity,  until  the  climax,  peace,  happiness  and 
prosperity  crown  your  efforts  to-day.  All  hail,  then,  to  old 
Plymouth  !  Blessed,  thrice  blessed  be  thy  children !  Never 
may  stain  or  blemish  rest  upon  any  of  their  characters.  May 
their  record  in  the  i'uture  be  what  it  has  been  in  the  past,  a 
record  for  integrity  of  morals,  of  liberty,  of  justice  and  charity, 
so  that  Plymouth  will  continue  to  give  in  the  future,  as  she  has 
in  the  past,  sons  and  daughters  to  honor  every  position,  to  fill 
with  grace  and  dignity  every  place  open  to  competition  in 
this  fair  land. 

Thus  will  she  contribute  her  portion  of  good  citizens  to 
town,  state  and  nation,  insuring  a  glorious  land  and  continuance 
of  heaven's  choicest  blessings,  and  help  to  keep  her  what  she 
has  been  in  the  past,  what  she  is  at  present,  no  doubt  what  God 
intended  her  to  be  and  what  the  poet  described  her,  "  The  land 
of  the  free,  and  the  home  of  the  brave."  May  the  hundred 
garlands  you  lay  upon  her  venerable  head  to-day  be  accompanied 
with  the  wish  and  with  the  prayer  that  Plymouth,  old  Plymouth, 
may  continue  for  all  time  to  be  the  fruitful  mother  of  patriotic 
and  noble  sons  and  fair  and  virtuous  daughters. 

Mr.  Pond  —  If  a  stranger  should  have  dropped  in  here 
to-day,  I  think  it  must  have  occurred  to  him  by  this  time  that 
Plymouth  is  quite  a  town.  We  are  proud  of  pretty  nearly 
everything.  Mention  has  been  made  of  the  three  hundred 
soldieis  that  went  from  this  town  in  the  defense  of  our  flag. 
We  wish  to  call  your  attention  for  a  brief  time  to  one  particular 
soldier,  one  who  had  a  remarkable  career,  and  in  whom  we  are 
very  much  interested.  We  have  invited  his  friend.  Judge 
Sheldon  of  New  Haven,  to  be  with  us  to-day  and  to  deliver  a 
short  address  upon  Dorence  Atwater  and  the  Andersonville 
record,  and  I  take  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  Hon.  Joseph 
vSheldon  of  New  Haven,  who  will  address  you  upon  this  subject. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  My  work  to-day  is  to  tell  in  a 
few  words  something  of  one  of  the  vovmger  generation  of  the 
men  of  Plymouth,  of  one  still  living  in  the  far  off  Southern  Sea, 
of  whose  work  in  the  civil  war  this  good  old  town  has  much 
reason  to  be  proud. 

The  point  of  interest — special  and  noteworthy — in  his  career 
as  a  soldier,  was  in  connection  with  the  Union  prisoners  of  war 
taken  by  the  Confederates  and  held  in  tlieir  military  prisons — 
particularly  that  at  Andersonville  ;  his  making  secretly  a  copy  of 
their  death  register  while  a  prisoner  there  himself,  and  bringing 
it  through  the  lines — his  transfer  of  a  right  to  copy  it  to  the  Gov- 
ernment and  his  persistent  demand  for  a  copy  himself  for  publi- 


CEN  TKXNIAK    fKI-i:  UKA  I  ION.  l8.5 

cation  after  he  had  deliverecl  his  tirst  copy  to  the  Atljutant-Gen- 
eral  Department;  iiis  re-enlistnient  as  a  soldier,  his  assignment 
to  duty  in  the  expedition  sent  to  mark  the  graves  at  Anderson- 
ville  where  his  original  list  came  into  his  hands  in  the  way  of  his 
duty;  his  placing  it  in  Iiis  trunk  and  retin-ning  with  it  to  Wash- 
ington ;  his  arraignment  and  trial  by  court  maitial  on  two 
charges  and  two  specifications.  One  charge,  that  of  "conduct 
to  the  prejudice  of  good  order  and  military  discipline  in  taking 
his  list  without  authority  froin  the  tent  of  his  superior  officer 
at  Andersonville."  Another  of  "larceny  in  having  then  and 
there  stolen  that  list  from  that  officer,"  his  sentence  by  that  court 
martial  to  a  fine  of  $300,  to  forfeit  all  pay  and  allowance  then 
due,  and  to  be  confined  for  eighteen  months  at  hard  labor,  at 
such  prison  as  the  Secretary  of  War  might  designate  ;  to  restore 
the  roll  to  the  War  Department  and  to  stand  committed  at  hard 
labor  till  that  fine  was  paid  and  that  roll  was  so  restored. 

It  is  a  story  that  in  the  dangerous,  important  and  self- 
imposed  service  which  he  rendered  to  his  country,  in  his  youth  ; 
in  the  penetrating  intelligence  with  which  he  devised  and  carried 
out  his  work  ;  and  in  his  misfortunes  connected  with  it  he  recalls 
most  vividly  another  young  hero  of  Connecticut — Nathan  Hale 
— whose  work  and  whose  fate  in  the  revolutionary  war  have 
ever  since  been  a  matter  of  mournful  pride  to  every  true  son  of 
Connecticut,  and  whose  statue  now  fitly  adorns  the  Capitol  at 
Hartford. 

With  these  general  features  of  the  case  you  are  probably  all 
familiar.  You  know  that  his  list  contained  the  first  authentic  in- 
telligence and  the  only  statement  in  detail  that  ever  came  to  the 
Union  authorities  in  regard  to  the  awful  facts  in  relation  to  about 
13,000  prisoners  who  had  died  of  starvation  and  exposure  in  An- 
dersonville at  the  hands  of  the  Confederate  authorities.  Thirty- 
five  thousand  soldiers  had  been  confined  there  ;  more  than  one- 
third  of  these  soldiers  died  within  a  few  months;  they  died  at 
the  rate  of  130  a  day  on  an  average,  during  the  time  covered  by 
Atwater's  list. 

A  few  prisoners  that  had  lieen  kept  at  Richmond  and  Belle 
Isle  had  been  exchanged,  and  their  deplorable  condition  was 
made  the  object  of  special  investigation,  and  report  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  vSanitarv  Commission  of  which  Dr.  Valentine  Mott, 
the  eminent  surgeon,  was  the  chairman,  and  bv  a  joint  committee 
of  Congress,  of  which  vSenator  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  of  Ohio, 
was  chairman.  The  evidence  was  substantially  the  same  and 
the  conclusions  were  identical. 

Surgeon  Vandeknift  stated  that  "one  day  we  received  360 
prisoners  from  the  Confederates;  14  died  in  12  hours,  six  died 
on  board  the  transport  that  brought  thein  up  from  City  Point." 

In  April,  1864,  had  occurred  the  horrible  massacre  of  black 
soldiers,  mostly  Tennesseans,  at  Fort  Pillow.  About  300  in  the 
fort  were  overwhelmed  bv  five  or  six  thousand  assailants,  and 
nearlv  all  were  murdered  in  cold  blood  after  their  surrender.  A 
considerable  part  of  the  work  was  resumed  and  completed  the 
next  dav. 


1 86  HISTORY    OP'    PLYMOUTH. 

In  May,  1S64,  Secretary  Stanton  said  that  the  enormity  of 
the  crime  commitled  by  the  rebels  toward  our  prisoners  for  the 
last  several  months  is  not  known  or  realized  by  our  people,  and 
can  but  fill  with  horror  the  civilized  world  when  the  facts  are 
fully  revealed. 

General  Hoftman,  Commissary-General  of  Prisoners,  said 
"that  our  soldiers  in  the  hands  of  tiie  rebels  are  starved  to  death, 
cannot  be  denied 

Senator  Wade  said  "that  the  evidence  proves  beyond  all 
manner  of  doubt  a  determination  on  the  part  of  the  rebel  authori- 
ties to  destroy  our  soldiers  by  privation  and  exposure." 

All  these  inferences  were  amply  justified  by  the  facts. 

But  here  in  Atwater's  list  were  names,  dates,  companies, 
regiments  and  States,  of  men  who  had  died.  The  numbers  were 
on  a  prodigious  scale.  It  was  in  the  nature  of  a  day  by  day  con- 
fession under  their  own  hands. 

It  threw  a  side  light  of  the  highest  importance  upon  the 
whole  conduct  of  the  Confederates  after  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation,  after  the  arming  of  the  blacks  and  their  great 
disasters  in  1S64.  It  plainly  showed  how  desperation,  reck- 
less cruelty  and  inhuman  ferocity  marked  their  common  determin- 
ation and  their  universal  barbaric  instincts. 

So  that  the  time  when  Atwater's  list  came  to  the  Govern- 
ment's hands  made  it  specially  important.  It  was  still  more  im- 
portant because  it  was  then  believed  it  would  play  an  important 
part  in  the  anticipated  trial  of  Jefferson  Davis  and  other  Confed- 
erate leaders  for  the  wholesale  murder  of  these  thousands  at  An- 
dersonville,  even  if  they  were  never  punished  for  their  treason. 

But  its  importance  was  greatest  of  all  by  the  certain,  definite, 
compact  intelligence  it  brought  to  so  many  thousands  of  friends 
and  relatives  as  to  when  and  how  their  heroes  lived  and  suffered 
and  died. 

For  these,  it  had  been  originally  designed,  and  been 
patiently  worked  out,  and  he  had  fully  determined  that  they 
should  have  it. 

You  will  perhaps  pardon  a  repetition  of  some  of  the  details 
of  the  trial — a  statement  of  the  present  legal  position  of  his  case. 

When  the  work  at  Andersonville  was  finished,  he  put  his 
copy  of  this  list  into  his  trunk  and  returned  with  it  to  Washing- 
ton. A  day  or  two  after  his  arrival  there,  being  asked  if  he  had 
the  list,  he  said,  "he  had,  and  that  he  wished  it  to  be  distinctly 
understood  that  he  wanted  Captain  Moore  to  be  relieved  from  all 
responsibility  for  the  loss  of  the  rolls."  A  clerk  in  the  War  De- 
partment asked  him  what  he  had  done  with  the  rolls.  He  said 
"the  law  allowed  a  man  to  take  his  own  property  wherever  he 
could  find  it."  They  searched  his  room  at  his  hotel.  Atwater 
said  "you  can  search  the  place  but  you  won't  find  the  rolls." 
The  clerk  asked  him  twice  where  the  rolls  were  ;  he  merely  said 
"they  are  safe,  thev  are  all  safe."  They  searched  the  place  but 
they  did  not  find  the  rolls. 

He  was  an  enlisted  soldier  in  the  general  service  ;  he  was 
then  under  arrest;   he  was  sent  immediately  to  the  old  Capitol 


CKNl  KNMAI.    CKI.KBKA'IK^N.  187 

prison.  Soon  aftci'  he  was  arraigned  and  tried  by  a  court  mar- 
tial on  two  charges,  one  of  conduct  to  the  prejucHce  of  good  order 
and  military  discipline,  the  other  of  larceny.  In  this  the  taking 
of  the  roll  from  Captain  Moore  at  Andersonville  without 
authority — and  that  he  stole  it  from  Captain  Moore.  After  a 
hasty  trial  he  was  found  guilty  on  both  charges  and  l)oth  specifi- 
cations and  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  $300;  to  be  dishonorably 
dischaiged  from  the  service  with  loss  of  all  pay  and  allowance 
then  due ;  to  be  confined  at  hard  labor  for  eighteen  months,  at 
such  place  as  the  Secretary  of  War  might  direct;  to  return  the 
rolls  and  to  stand  committed  at  hard  labor  until  this  fine  should 
be  paid  and  the  stolen  property  should  be  returned  to  the  War 
Department.  This  was  a  harsh,  cruel  sentence,  and  considering 
all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  it  was  a  blunder  and  crime 
itself. 

The  proceedings  of  the  couit  were  approved  without  exami- 
nation by  the  Major-General  ctmimanding  the  Department,  and 
by  the  Judge  Advocate  (Jeneral  September  27,  1S65,  and  it  was 
recommended  that  "the  sentence  be  carried  into  eflect."  Auburn 
.State  Prison  was  designated  by  the  Adjutant-General  as  the  place 
of  his  punishment. 

The  Captain  of  the  Reserve  Corps  who  had  him  in  charge 
at  the  old  Capitol  prison,  and  who  was  to  take  him  to  Auburn, 
remarked  in  his  hearing:  "I  want  that  Atwater  hand-cufted 
dam'd  tight;  I  know  what  kind  of  a  fellow  he  is;  I  have  heard 
of  him  before."  In  irons  and  under  guard  as  a  felon  he  was 
marched  through  the  streets  of  Washington  to  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  railroad  station,  taken  to  Auburn  prison  on  September  27, 
iS6^,  and  in  prison  garb  he  commenced  to  serve  out  his  sentence. 
It  was  equivalent  to  life  sentence;  for  the  $300  he  had  received 
he  had  spent  in  his  sickness  and  in  helping  his  little  fatherless 
brothers  and  sisters,  and  he  had  no  property  himself.  His  father 
had  died  of  an  illness  contracted  in  taking  care  of  Dorence  him- 
self on  his  return  from  Andersonville. 

Atwater's  friends  were  shocked  and  indignant.  He  remained 
at  hard  labor  in  Auburn  prison  for  a  little  more  than  two  months, 
when  suddenly,  by  a  general  order  of  the  War  Department 
dated  December  16,  1865,  he  was  ordered  to  be  immediate!)'  dis- 
charged— simply  discharged — from  imprisonment  by  order  of 
the  Secretary  of  War,  no  reason  being  given. 

Atwater  states  that  he  was  released  under  a  general  pardon 
of  the  President  on  the  30th  dav  of  November,  186^  But  no 
such  pardon  appears  in  the  papers  in  the  case,  which  were  after- 
wards ( Julv  16,  1S66,)  sent  bv  Secretary  .Stanton  to  the  House 
of  Representatives,  in  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  House. 
The  order  of  discharge  does  appear  among  those  papers. 
That,  however,  was  Atwater's  understanding  of  his  release  at 
the  time. 

He  then  devoted  himself,  first  of  all,  continuously  for  forty 
days  and  nights,  to  the  preparation,  printing  and  publication  of 
his  list,  for  tlie  benefit  of  those  for  whom  chiefly  it  had  been 
originally  made.      The  Tribime  Association  published  it  and  dis- 


l88  HISTORY    OF    PI.YMOUTH. 

tiibuted  it  broadcast.  From  its  publication  Atwater  never  ex- 
pected or  received  one  cent,  and  the  Tribune  Association  pub- 
lished it  at  its  bare  cost ;  it  was  on  all  hands  regarded  as  a  duty 
costing  time  and  work  and  money,  and  none  of  them  was  spared. 

This  duty  done  first  of  all,  Atwater  immediately  afterwards, 
on  the  32d  of  March,  iS66,  sent  his  memorial  to  Congress,  stat- 
ing the  facts  and  asking  that  they  be  inquired  into,  and  that  justice 
be  done  him.  The  monstrous  injustice  that  had  been  done  in  the 
case  struck  the  House  as  calling  for  investigation.  They  unani- 
mously passed  resolutions  calling  for  an  investigation.  This 
matter  was  warmly  followed  up  by  Hon.  Mr.  Hale,  then  repre- 
senting the  north  eastern  counties  of  New  York. 

He  had  made  some  preliminary  investigations  of  the  case 
himself;  had  carefully  examined  all  the  evidence  on  which 
Atwater  had  been  convicted.  He  made  this  declaration  to  the 
House:  "I  say,  on  my  reputation  as  a  lawyer  and  as  a  man, 
that  it  is  impossible  for  any  intelligent  man  to  read  the  record  of 
that  court  martial  without  saying  it  is  a  case  of  the  grossest  and 
most  monstrous  cruelty  and  injustice  that  ever  oppressed  any 
human  being." 

He  had  caused  a  copy  of  Atwater's  memorial  to  be  sent  to 
the  President,  with  a  request  that  the  Judge  Advocate  General 
be  requested  to  really  examine  the  case ;  it  had  been  passed  over 
with  only  the  formal  examination  usual  in  cases  tried  by  court 
martial.  That  officer  did  re-examine  the  whole  record,  evidence 
and  all,  and  made  an  elaborate  report  in  the  case  to  the  vSecretary 
of  War,  for  use  of  the  President. 

That  report,  under  date  of  May  lo,  iS66,  concluded  with 
this  paragraph  : 

"What  is  now  desired  appears  to  be  that  the  stigma  resting 
on  Atwater's  character,  arising  from  a  conviction  of  felony,  be 
removed.  It  is  suggested  that  no  formal  pardon  has  yet  been 
issued  to  him,  he  having  been  released  from  confinement  bv  an 
order  of  the  War  Department.  A  pardon  mav  therefore  be 
issued  to  him,  setting  forth  the  grounds  on  which  it  is  granted, 
to  wit,  the  insufliciencv  of  the  testimony  on  vvliich  his  conviction 
rested.  This,  it  is  believed,  Avould  afibrd  as  impressive  an  evi- 
dence of  the  President's  judgment,  and  would  as  effectually 
remedy  the  discredit  which  has  attached  to  Atwater  as  would  an 
attempted  annulment  of  his  conviction  and  sentence." 

The  Adjutant-General,  who  had  been  the  chief  power  mov- 
ing in  the  prosecution  from  the  beginning,  remonstrated  warmly 
against  the  opinion  and  advice  of  the  head  of  the  Bureau  of 
Military  Justice,  and  concluded  his  remonstrance  with  the  remark 
which  throws  a  marvellous  light  over  his  whole  connection  with 
the  case:  "  Such  an  act  of  clemencv  (as  had  been  recommend- 
ed) would  give  a  coloring  to  his  (Atwater's)  false  representation 
against  the  Adjutant-General's  oflice." 

Thereupon  the  President  turned  the  case  over  to  the  Secretary' 
of  War  for  his  final  action,  and  nothing  further  was  ever  done, 
except  that  the  War  Department  did  send  to  tlie  House,  when  it 
was  called  for,  a  transcript  of  all  the  evidence  and  every  paper 


CKN  ri:.NNIAL    CKI.KBKAIION.  I  Sc) 

connected  with  the  case.  And  it  was  at  hist  all  printed  and  the 
opinion  ol  Congressman  Hale  and  of  the  head  of  the  Bureau  of 
Military  Justice  is  amply  sustained  by  the  evidence  printed,  as  it 
W'as  in  tuU,  in  the  papers  sent  to  the  House. 

The  case  was  undoul)tedly  involved  in  technicalities  ;  the  pnL- 
lic  business  pressed  from  every  side  ;  Senator  Wilson,  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Military  AiVairs  of  the  Senate,  cut  the  whole 
matter  short  for  the  time  by  procuring  for  him  his  appointment 
as  Consul  to  the  Sechelles  Islands,  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  where  he 
resided  for  several  years,  and  was  alter  transferred  to  the  Con- 
sulate at  Tahiti,  where  he  has  since  lived. 

Adjutant-General  Townsend,  I  am  informed,  is  now  dead. 
His  conduct  in  this  case  may  possibly  carry  his  name  and  fame 
farther  than  all  his  honorable  career  in  the  army. 

But  it  ought  to  be  remembered  that  his  persistent  error  in 
this  case  was  not  really  what  it  seems  on  the  surface,  even  now 
at  the  distance  of  thirty  years.  It  was  not  altogether  that  of  a 
bat-eyed,  wrong-headed  martinet,  simply  abusing  power  in  the 
old,  old  way. 

It  ought  to  be  remembered  that  it  was  then  a  time  of  quick 
harsh  judgments  against  subordinates,  on  the  part  of  those  in 
command,  at  the  end  of  a  long  and  irritating  war — that  money 
making  schemes  of  every  vile  kind  were  being  sprung  upon  the 
Government  on  every  side,  and  that  his  soldierly  instincts  revolted 
against  them,  everyone.  He  seems  to  have  mistaken  Atwater 
for  one  of  these  money-making  harpies.  He  cherished,  perhaps, 
an  habitual  high  sense  of  the  honor  and  the  duty  of  a  soldier. 
Atwater  had  been  disrespectful  to  the  Adjutant-General's  office 
in  a  matter  in  which  not  only  his  honor  was  involved,  but  also 
the  bleeding  hearts  of  thousands  of  his  countrymen  were  involved, 
for  whom  he  had  braved  death  in  its  most  terrible  form  at  the 
hands  of  the  Confederates. 

The  Adjutant-General  would  have  been  incapable  of  acting 
the  strange  part  he  did  act  in  this  case  if  he  had  really  seen  the 
whole  case,  and  his  own  part  in  it,  with  any  moral  perspective. 
If  he  had  realized  that  he  was  acting  a  dreadful  part  in  one  of 
the  saddest  tragedies  of  the  war.  Whether  he  lived  to  regret  it, 
I  do  not  know.  It  is  quite  probable  that  he  did,  for  he  often  after- 
wards kindly  inquired  about  Atwater,  after  powerful  friends  had 
gathered  around  him,  and  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Military  Affairs  of  the  Senate,  Henry  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts, 
afterwards  Vice-President,  had  become  his  friend  and  benefactor, 
and  he  was  widely  recognized  as  one  of  the  modest,  true  heroes 
of  the  w^ar.  It  is  a  pity,  I  think,  that  in  this  life  they  had  not 
met  and  passed  an  act  of  formal  forgiveness  and  amnesty  for  a 
cruel  wrong.  Jefferson  Davis  himself,  and  all  but  Wirtz, 
among  the  Confederates,  have  long  since  been  forgiven.  Their 
great  violations  of  all  law,  human  and  divine,  have  been  wisely 
passed  over. 

It  seems  as  if  the  Adjutant-General  himself  may  well  be 
included  by  the  friends  of  Atwater  in  the  general  amnesty. 

I  vote  him  not  morally  so  guilty  as  he  seems  at  a  first  glance  ; 


190  HISTORY    OF    FLVMOUIH. 

indeed,  to  be  really  not  guilty  at  all,  when  we  remember  that  the 
intent  is  the  essence  of  crime.  Atwater  was  a  boy  and  a  private 
soldier,  the  Adjutant-General  was  an  officer  and  a  martinet  in 
discipline.  He  possibly  thought  he  was  doing  God  and  his 
conntry  a  high  service,  even  as  Paul  himself  did,  when  he  per- 
secuted the  Christians  even  unto  strange  cities. 

The  virtue  of  standing  alone  against  the  opinion  of  the 
world  is  not  so  common  or  so  barren  of  good  that  we  may  not 
recognize  and  even  applaud  the  motives  of  the  Adjutant- 
General,  while  we  condemn  his  act. 

As  a  fair-minded  officer,  he  made  one  great  sad  mistake,  in  a 
case  he  did  not  properly  comprehend.  He  did  not  think  how 
his  own  conduct  would  look  at  the  distance  of  thirty  years. 

For  one  I  pardon  the  great  oflence  of  the  late  Adjutant 
General  of  the  Army,  and  recommend  him  to  the  mercy  of  that 
great  court  martial  of  history,  from  which,  for  a  soldier,  theie 
is  no  appeal. 

While  the  Confederates — even  those  in  command  at  the 
prison  pen  at  Andersonville — have  all  been  pardoned,  the  wrong 
to  Atwater,  one  of  the  noblest  young  heroes  of  the  Civil  War — 
the  true  hero  of  Andersonville — still  remains  unredressed.  The 
power  to  properly  reinstate  him  in  his  true  position  as  an  honor- 
able soldier  and  to  remove  from  him  the  stigma  of  a  felon, 
remains  alone  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

On  this  day,  memorable  forever  in  the  history  of  the  grand 
old  town  of  Plymouth,  I  ask  you,  the  friends  and  the  townsmen 
of  Dorence  Atwater,  to  pass  the  following  resolution  : 

Whereas,  At  this  centennial  celebration  of  the  establishment  of  the 
town  of  Plymouth,  held  May  15,  1895,  the  case  of  Dorence  Atwater,  a 
native  of  this  town,  was  recalled  to  the  attention  of  the  citizens  of  the 
town,  and  the  people  assembled  here,  illustrative  of  his  heroic  character, 
the  noble,  disinterested  and  important  service  rendered  by  him  to  his 
country,  and  the  extraordinary  and  cruel  injustice  under  which  he  has 
so  long  suffered ;  therefore, 

Rt'so/7'i'd,  That  the  Representatives  of  this  town  and  the  Senator 
from  this  Senatorial  District  in  the  General  Assembly,  now  in  session  at 
Hartford,  be  requested  to  take  such  action  in  the  premises  as  may  lead 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  by  joint  resolution  or  otherwise,  to 
annul  the  action  of  the  court  martial  by  which  undeserved  dishonor  was 
cast  up(m  Dorence  Atwater,  and  in  substance  and  in  form  to  restore  to 
him  his  unsullied  name,  and  to  give  him  some  proper  recognition  of  his 
services  to  his  country. 

[The  resolution  was  adopted  at  the  service  held  in  the 
afternoon.] 

Mr.  Pond — We  are  highly  favoied  to-day  in  having  with  us 
a  lady  whose  reputation  is  not  confined  to  the  State  of  Connecti- 
cut, or  to  the  United  States ;  whose  name  is  spoken  with 
reverence  and  love  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
United  States  as  well  as  abroad.  From  her  life  of  devotion  to 
the  sick  and  suflering,  she  has  been  classed  by  a  recent  writer  as 
the  greatest  heroine  America  has  ever  produced.  I  have  the 
honor  of  introducing  to  this  audience  Miss  Clara  Barton,  Presi- 
dent of  the  American  Society  of  the  Red  Cross. 


CEN1  ENNIAI.    CEI.KBHA'IION.  I9I 

J\Jis.s  Claia  Barton,  who  is  a  personal  iViciul  of  Mr.  Atwater, 
made  the  following  appeal  : 

"  I  regret  that  this  call  has  been  made.  1  am  sorrv  to  take 
from  you  one  moment  of  the  time  so  exclusively  your  own,  and 
yet  I  have  been  asked  to  say  a  few  words,  to  let  3011  hear  my 
voice— if  you  can  hear  it.  If  I  were  to  say  anything,  it  would 
be  to  remind  you  that  thiity  \ears  ago  I  came  into  your  state. 
I  went  through  its  villages,  its  towns,  its  cities- — e\en  \()ur 
legislative  halls,  and  told  the  story  of  Dorcnce  Atwater.  I  e\eii 
took  him  with  me  and  showed  him  to  the  people,  and  I  asked 
that  the  disgrace  which  rested  on  him  be  removed.  1  never 
failed  to  draw  the  sympathy  of  the  people  ;  it  was  felt  and  under- 
stood;  but  when  more  was  asked  for  it  failed.  I  said  that  he 
had  done  a  work  which  God  approved  and  angels  smiled  on. 
I  asked,  moreover,  that  the  government  should  be  asked  to 
retrieve  wiiat  had  been  done.  I  wanted  him  placed  where  he 
should  he.  When  I  saw  this  fail  and  death  staring  him  in  the 
face,  for  he  was  poor,  sick,  degraded,  disheartened — a  prisonei' 
of  both  South  and  North — when  I  saw  he  was  not  likeh'  to 
endure  it,  I  asked  then  a  consulate  for  him  in  some  climate 
where  he  might  have  a  chance  to  live.  It  was  given,  and  for 
twenty  years  he  served  his  country  in  a  civil  capacity  as  faith- 
fully as  he  had  ever  done  in  military  ;  not  one  word  in  all  the 
state  department  ever  rested  against  the  work  of  Dorence 
Atwater  as  a  consul.  He  laid  that  office  down  a  few  years  ago 
as  no  longer  needing  it.  He  was  no  longer  poor ;  he  had 
attained  social  rank  that  few  men  gain  ;  he  had  married  the 
magnificent  wife  who  graces  his  home,  who  was  a  royal  princess 
of  the  line  on  one  side  and  of  the  most  scholarh'  blood  of 
England  on  the  other. 

"But  there  is  something  else  I  would  say  to  you.  In  mv 
house  for  thirty  years  has  remained  the  record  that  he  kept  and 
the  dishonorable  discharge  that  he  received.  In  a  cabinet  in 
that  house  are  the  relics,  the  largest,  perhaps  the  onlv  collection 
of  relics  of  the  stockade  of  Andersonville,  the  poor  little  cups 
and  spoons  and  ladles,  and  whatever  there  was  that  strove  to 
keep  life  in  those  poor  wretches  and  helped  them  on  as  they 
went  to  their  death.  I  gathered  them  there  in  that  stockade 
with  Dorence  iVtwater.  They  lie,  as  I  told  you,  in  that 
cabinet  in  my  house,  and  along  with  them,  on  the  same  shelves, 
lies  the  dishonorable  discharge  of  Dorence  Atwater. 

"I  have  waited  and  waited,  lo  !  these  thirtv  vears  for  the 
State  of  Connecticut  to  ask  the  government  to  draw  that  out  of 
my  hands  I  would  have  it  replaced  bv  an  honorable  discharge 
such  as  it  deserves.  It  waits;  it  is  there,  and  it  lies  side  bv  side 
with  the  relics  of  that  fated  prison.  I  onlv  ask  :  Shall  I  keep  itr 
Men  of  Connecticut,  men  of  Phmouth,  shall  I  keep  it  there,  or 
will  you  direct  the  government  to  demand  it  of  me.-  I  will 
surrender  it  when  vou  do." 

At  the  close  of  her  address  three  cheers  were  given  lor 
Miss  Barton. 

Mr.    Pond  —  The    next    in    order    is    "  Remarks    bv  Tmited 


192  HISTORY    OF    PI.VMOUTH. 

Guests."  We  have  but  eight  minutes  to  do  it  in  and  I  hardly 
know  where  to  commence.  We  will  extend  the  time  slightly, 
but  shall  confine  you  to  just  five  minutes,  not  more  than  that,  and 
you  will  hear  this  (pointing  to  the  gavel)  but  we  want  to  hear 
from  you  all.  Now  do  not  decline  simply  because  there  is  a 
lack  ot  time.  We  shall  call  upon  no  one  that  we  do  not  want 
to  hear,  and  we  will  begin  with  the  clergy.  1  notice  that  we 
have  with  us  the  Rev.  Mr.  Meade.     Mr.  Meade,  five  minutes. 

Mr.  Meade — I  will  not  take  five  minutes,  Mr.  Chaiiman.  I 
am  glad  to  be  with  you  to-day;  I  rejoice  in  everything  that  you 
rejoice  in  here.  I  suppose  the  only  reason  I  am  here  is  because 
I  was  born  here  as  a  minister,  and  I  am  glad  to  stand  here  as  one 
who  has  had  that  birth  in  the  glorious  town  of  Plymouth.  Of 
course,  everything  that  bears  the  name  of  Plymouth  has  a  part 
of  the  honor  of  Plymouth  Rock  in  it.  The  greatest  fact,  I 
believe,  of  i795r  was  the  formation  of  these  towns,  which  are  the 
unit  of  our  great  Union,  as  has  been  said.  The  questions  that 
occupied  our  fathers,  that  made  them  and  us  into  citizens,  have 
made  our  land  what  it  is. 

I  believe  I  am  now  serving  a  church  which  furnished  a 
governor  to  this  state  at  the  time  you  were  made  a  town.  My 
study  window  looks  out  upon  his  birthplace.  Samuel  Hunting- 
ton was  President  of  the  Assembly  of  the  Continental  Congress 
and  governor  of  this  state;  in  fact,  while  he  lived,  no  other  man 
was  thought  fit  to  be  governor,  for  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life. 
Every  town  like  that  was  raising  up  men  to  stand  as  citizens,  as 
lawyers  and  as  judges  in  our  early  history. 

I  will  not  try  to  make  a  speech.  I  have  lots  of  things  down 
here  I  would  like  to  talk  about,  but  I  had  figured  it  out  by  a 
Thomaston  watch  that  I  shoidd  not  get  called  on,  and  it  broke 
up  my  whole  array  of  facts.  I  rejoice  with  you  here  not  only  in 
the  problems  of  government  and  citizenship  which  our  fathers 
have  settled,  and  in  the  great  ideas  which  have  grown  out  in  the 
history  of  this  town,  and  the  inventions  that  have  had  such  a 
wide  influence  over  this  country.  While  the  people  of  this 
town  were  forming  this  church,  a  son  of  this  town  was  sending 
that  steamer,  the  first  steamer,  across  the  ocean.  Churches  and 
steamers  go  well  together  to  make  up  prosperity  and  to  build  up 
the  right  life  of  a  nation.  From  mouse  traps  to  marine  clocks 
this  town  of  Plymouth  is  known  over  the  whole  land.  You 
have  furnished  also  a  man,  who  is  here — I  have  not  shaken  his 
hand  yet — who  furnished  a  cartridge  to  help  destroy  the  enemies 
of  his  country,  and  now  is  furnishing  the  children  of  this  land 
with  the  best  methods  of  understanding  God's  Word  and  Christ 
the  Saviour.  I  hope  to  get  hold  of  his  hand  and  to  congratulate 
him  and  the  town  upon  having  produced  sucli  a  man,  but  he  is 
one  among  manv. 

Rev.  L.  S.  Griggs,  of  Ivoryton — Well,  Mr.  President.  I  am 
not  going  to  be  mendacious  and  tell  you  that  I  will  not  speak 
five  minutes  and  then  be  called  down.  The  help  which  this 
town  has  rendered  to  our  country  has  come  largely  from  the 
mothers,  whose   hands  have  rocked   the  cradle.      I  am   glad  that 


CENTENNIAL    CELEURATION.  193 

our  brother,  shall  1  call  him — I  suppose  1  ought  to  call  him 
our  father — representing  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  in  his 
remarks  rendered  some  justice  to  woman.  I  think  it  was  very 
becoming  and  showed  a  high  degree  ol"  good  sense.  Our  lathers 
subdued  the  wilderness  and  courageously  planted  their  homes 
upon  these  hillsides  and  in  these  valleys,  so  far  back  as  150  or 
160  years  ago,  and  founded  ecclesiastical  and  civil  institutions 
here.  We  think  of  the  pilgrim  lathers,  half  of  whom  were  put 
beneath  the  sod  that  first  winter  at  Plvmouth,  in  order  that  the 
town,  the  corner  stone  of  the  foundation  of  this  republic  might 
not  be  thrown  from  its  place.  I  am  filled  with  veneration  and 
admiring  afi'ection  for  these  men.  I  want  to  mention  one  of  the 
fathers,  Wm.  B.  Ells.  I  think  to-day  of  other  men  here,  one 
has  been  mentioned,  representing  the  class  who  remained  at 
home  during  the  war.  And  they  were  needed  at  home  to  keep 
the  streams  of  industry  running,  and  to  preserve  here  the  spirit 
of  liberty  and  of  devotion  to  the  Union,  to  sustain  at  home  the 
conflict  in  the  weary  march  and  on  the  bloody  field  of  battle. 
We  never  will  forget  them,  boys  and  girls,  young  men  and 
young  women.  You  should  take  this  matter  up  and  do  justice 
to  Dorence  Atwater,  and  you,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  make  it 
your  aim  that  the  future  shall  be  no  less  n.arked  by  gloiious 
achievement  than  the  past  was. 

Rev.  W.  F.  Arms,  Essex — I  know  some  are  anxious  for  dinner, 
and  what  can  be  said  after  what  has  been  said  already.^  The 
glor\'  of  Plymouth  has  been  spoken  of,  and  no  fitter  words  can 
be  used  than  those  from  the  pen  of  Judge  Fenn,  no  better  eulogy 
than  their  own  lives,  their  own  lives  of  industry,  and  the  record 
which  is  on  high.  We  are  proud  of  the  town  of  Plymouth  for 
what  she  has  done.  What  will  she  accomplish  in  the  future.' 
We  believe  she  has  material  here  for  further  prosperity,  and  we 
know  from  the  past  that  she  will  go  on  to  increased  prosperity. 

Rev.  Moseley  H.  Williams — There  are  no  friends  like  the  old 
friends.  I  used  to  think  there  were  no  boys  like  the  Plymouth 
boys  and  no  girls  like  the  Plymouth  girls.  I  say  this  in  confi- 
dence, I  know  that  none  of  you  will  be  mean  enough  to  tell  my 
wife  in  Philadelphia  what  I  said  here.  (A  voice  :  "  I  will,") 
Yes,  I  thought  you  would.  Then  I  will  have  to  explain  that 
that  was  a  long  time  ago.  But  these  Plymouth  boys  and  girls 
have  one  peculiarity — they  get  grey  while  they  are  so  young. 
I  don't  know  of  any  other  place  where  boys,  and  possibly  girls, 
are  grey.  Here  they  are.  But  we  are  still  boys  and  girls,  and 
it  is  worth  so  much  to  me  to  come  back.  I  traveled  two 
hundred  miles  to  get  this  centennial  dinner,  the  good  things  that 
have  been  spread  and  are  to  be,  and  I  won't  go  away  to  the 
dinner  just  for  a  moment,  because  I  have  observed  this,  that  the 
longer  you  wait  for  dinner  the  better  you  like  it.  So  if  1  should 
speak  for  an  hour  you  would  be  very  thankful  to  me  because  the 
dinner  would  taste  so  good. 

We  sha'n't  meet  again,  dear  friends,  this  audience,  so  I  just 
think  of  the  old  things  that  the  fathers  and  mothers  used  to  sav. 
Well,  we'll   meet  in  Pleaven,  and  that  is  the  sweet  thought,  is  it 


194  HISTOKY    OF    PI.VMOU'I  II. 

not,  alter  all?  We  break  up  and  separate  here,  but  if  we  are 
God's  children,  every  one  of  us,  we  will  meet  by  and  by  in  a 
reunion  where  we  won't  have  to  make  friends.  We  will  think 
of  the  past,  we  will  be  glad  for  the  present,  and  we  will  be 
happy  for  the  future,  and  we  will  praise  God  then  for  all  the 
blessed  experiences  of  our  Plymouth  life  and  the  Plymouth 
Centennial. 

Rev.  Mr.  Sharp,  Thomaston — I  did  not  know  until  last 
night  and  this  morning  that  I  had  such  distinguished  relations, 
1  was  born  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey  and  have  always  been 
proud  of  it.  I  was  brought  up  in  the  State  of  New  York  and 
have  always  loved  it.  I  was  educated  in  New  Haven  and  1  have 
never  been  ashamed  of  it.  I  therefore  feel  that  I  have  a  good 
many  fathers.  You  remember  the  story  of  the  two  boys,  who, 
very  much  enraged,  one  against  another,  were  contending  in  the 
street.  Said  one  boy  to  the  other,  anxious  to  make  him  still 
more  angry,  "You  haven't  got  any  father."  "  Have  too,"  said 
he,  "got  more  fathers  than  you."  That  is  the  way  I  feel  just 
now.  I  feel  that  I  have  acquired  another  father,  and  besides 
having  fathers  in  Warren  county,  N.  J.,  I  have  fathers  in 
Brooklyn  and  New  York  city  of  which  I  am  proud,  and  I  have 
a  father  and  mother  here  in  Plymouth,  of  which  I  may  well  be 
proud.  However,  I  came  here  for  another  purpose  than  to  make 
a  speech,  as  I  had  no  intimation  whatever  ol  doing  so.  I  see 
that  you  have  got  me  as  one  of  the  exhibits,  to  which  reference 
was  made  last  night.  The  time  for  a  minister  to  make  a  speech 
is  not  before  dinner,  but  after  dinner.  There  is  something  in 
the  atmosphere  of  dinner  time  that  melts  out  all  that  is  gentle 
and  sweet  in  his  disposition,  and  he  feels  at  home. 

In  one  of  his  books  Mark  Twain  has  a  character  who  was 
very  much  interested  in  a  frog.  He  had  trained  him  to  jump, 
and  was  ready  to  wager  any  amount  of  money  on  him.  He  did 
indeed  collect  a  great  deal  of  money  by  the  jumping  activity  of 
this  frog.  One  day  he  met  a  man,  I  suppose  he  must  have  been 
a  Plymouth  man,  because  he  beat  the  other  man  in  his  exhibi- 
tion of  ingenuity.  Meeting  the  stranger,  he  said,  "  I  have  a  frog 
here  who  can  out-jump  any  frog  you  have."  He  was  at  once 
taken,  and  the  owner  of  the  famous  frog  went  down  to  the  pool 
for  another  frog  and  brought  it  up  While  this  man  was  going 
down  after  the  frog,  the  stranger  had  filled  up  the  mouth  of  the 
distinguished  frog  with  stone,  so  that  he  was  very  heavy  in  the 
abdomen.  When  the  tickling  operation  began,  to  make  the  frog 
jump,  he  could  not  jump.  Now,  a  minister  is  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  that  kind  of  a  frog;  he  can  always  jump  further 
when  his  stomach  is  full. 

Major  F.  W.  Mix — Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  Old  Friends 
and  Schoolmates :  I  feel  this  morning  as  though  I  had  got  a 
good  many  things  to  be  thankful  for.  First  of  all  that  I  am  a 
native  of  old  Plvmouth.  Nearly  two-thirds  of  a  century  ago,  in 
sight  of  this  tent,  almost  within  a  stone's  throw,  I  was  born. 
Forty  years  or  more  of  my  life  were  spent  in  this  portion  of 
Plvmouth,  and  I   must  say  to-da}-  that  T  have  no  regrets  that  T 


CKN  1  i';.\NiAr.  c  i:i.i:i!K.\  riox.  icj^ 

was  born  in  Plymouth.  1  wisli  I  had  tune  to  tell  you  some  of 
the  thoughts  that  have  gone  through  my  mind  as  I  have  looked 
over  the  faces  here  this  morning.  Up  on  this  hill  in  the  old  red 
school  house,  more  than  Hftv  years  ago,  I  received  my  first 
education.  Over  on  the  flat  I  received  more.  There  are  some 
things  I  ought  to  tell  you  about.  I  feel  thankful  for  the  lickings 
1  got  over  there.  I  did  not  appreciate  it  at  the  time,  but  as  I 
look  back  upon  it  to-day,  I  can  see  it  was  a  good  lesson  for  me. 
There  are  other  things,  too.  My  friend  Williams  has  brought 
it  up  to  my  mind.  I  used  to  think  there  were  no  girls  like  the 
Plymouth  or  Terryville  girls,  and  as  I  cast  my  eye  round  the 
seats  I  can  see  two  or  three  of  my  old  schoolmates  and  sweet- 
hearts. Sitting  by  their  side,  however,  are  gentlemen  who  got 
them  away  from  me.  As  I  see  my  wife  eyeing  me  pretty  close,  I 
am  warned  I  had  better  say  that  for  this,  too,  I  am  thankful. 
I  do  not  want  to  finish  what  I  have  to  say  without  calling  to 
mind  for  the  benefit  of  us  all,  some  of  the  men  that  I  can  remem- 
ber in  my  boyhood  days  and  up  till  I  became  a  young  man.  In 
all  the  speeches  that  have  been  made  I  find  the  name  of  the 
VVeltons  left  out.  Back  in  the  thirties,  thirty-seven  or  thirty- 
eight,  I  think,  extending  up  to  fort3'-five,  we  had  Hiram  and 
Heman  Welton  carrying  on  a  business  that  at  the  time  was  per- 
haps as  large  as  any  interest  that  we  had.  I  speak  of  it  as  the 
men  of  those  days  laid  the  foundation  of  this  town.  Manv 
things  that  look  to  us  to-day  small,  if  we  will  stop  and  think  of 
it,  were  greater  by  far  for  this  town,  for  the  men  that  have  gone 
forth  from  this  town,  than  anything  that  we  poor  mortals  are 
doing  to-day.  We  must  not  lose  sight  of  those  men,  we  must 
not  lose  sight  of  their  struggles,  and  further,  we  must  not  lose 
sight  of  the  fact  that  all  the  men  who  built  up  this  town  of  Ply- 
mouth were  identified  not  only  with  the  business  of  the  town, 
but  with  this  community  and  its  church.  It  is  what  has  made 
you,  my  friends,  what  you  are.  Will  you,  and  the  generations 
vet  to  come,  carry  on  the  work  that  those  men  began  ?  Will 
you  use  tlie  means  which  the  Almighty  places  in  vour  hands  for 
the  benefit  of  your  neighbors.'  I  look  around  here  to-day  and 
can  see  tlie  sons  and  daughters  that  have  gone  forth  from  this 
place,  occupying  prominent  positions.  They  are  indebted  to 
the  seed  that  was  sown  by  these  men  fifty,  sixty,  seventy-five 
years  ago,  and  wherever  we  go  let  us  carry  the  seed  that  was 
planted  in  our  hearts  and  in  our  minds  by  the  men  whose  life 
here  was  a  struggle  We  used  to  hear  vears  ago  the  names  of 
William  E.  IMcKee,  Burnham  Terrv,  Gaylord,  John  C.  Lewis, 
the  Weltons,  and  others  who  showed  an  active  interest  in  this  town. 
Let  us  take  it  as  a  lesson  for  us,  that  wherever  we  go  we  mav 
use  all  the  influence  in  our  power  for  the  benefit  of  our  neighbors 
and  for  mankind.  Mv  mother,  mv  father,  my  brothers,  my 
sisters,  nephews  and  nieces,  are  laid  away  in  your  cemetery,  and 
when  mv  labors  are  over  I  am  coming  back  to  the  old  town  of 
Plymouth.  The  soil  of  this  town  is  good  enough,  and  the 
friends  of  former  days,  and  those  which  I  see  around  me  are 
ofood  enougli,  as  a  guardian  for  what  will  be  left  of  me. 


196  HISTORY    OK    IM.VMOUiH. 

Mr.  Pond — It  strikes  me  it  would  be  well  to  change  this  a 
little.  We  have  heard  from  two  distinguished  gentlemen  who 
have  paid  a  glowing  tribute  to  the  girls  ol"  this  town  and  then 
have  deliberately  gone  outside  and  married  elsewhere.  I  wish 
to  call  upon  a  gentleman  who  was  born  elsewhere  and  came  to 
Terryville  to  marry  his  wile.  That  seems  to  be  more  patriotic 
— next  to  being  born  in  the  town  is  to  go  to  the  town  for  a  wife. 
General  George  H.  Ford,  of  New  Haven. 

Mr.  Ford — Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  It  gives 
me  great  pleasure  to  stand  up  and  greet  an  audience  composed 
of  men  and  women  who  reside  in  and  represent  this  town,  with 
which  I  am  associated  as  perhaps  a  son-in-law  A  few  years 
since  my  own  native  town  of  Milford  celebrated  its  350th  anni- 
versary, and  it  was  with  great  pride  and  pleasure  that  I  greeted 
my  old  associates  and  the  people  of  that  town  who  gathered 
upon  that  occasion.  My  pride  for  my  native  town  was  increased 
and  I  have  since  considered  that  it  was  perhaps  the  most  import- 
ant town  in  all  this  commonwealth,  but,  after  listening  to  the 
addresses  in  the  old  Plymouth  Church  last  evening,  and  the 
allusions  that  were  made  to  the  numerous  industries  and 
the  great  and  inventive  men  that  Plymouth  has  produced, 
and  the  historical  address  of  Judge  Fenn's  to-day,  I  must  say 
that  it  is  with  pleasure  that  I  can  divide  the  honors  between 
Milford  and  Plymouth.  I  want  to  say  right  here  to  the  coming 
generation  that  you  do  well  to  recall  the  events  of  the  last 
century  and  re-write  them  on  the  page  of  history.  I  am  in 
sympathy  with  it,  and  I  congratulate  the  young  men  o.'  this 
towni  upon  the  ancestry  that  they  enjoy.  I  would  urge  them  to 
perpetuate  it  and  maintain  it.  New  England  is  the  birthplace 
of  ideas,  continue  it,  guard  your  interests  here,  do  not  be 
influenced  by  the  delusions  of  a  western  fever.  Stay  here  in 
New  England  and  maintain  what  your  ancestors  have  built. 
Keep  alive  the  old  traditions.  Keep  the  fires  burning  on  the 
old  hearthstones,  and  keep  in  touch  with  your  native  town. 

I  began  to  think  up  to  a  certain  point  that  the  men  of  the 
place  were  to  receive  all  of  the  credit  and  glory,  until  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Daly  alluded  to  the  ladies,  and  he  touched  me  in  a  spot 
where  I  was  most  interested.  The  men  of  Plymouth  could 
never  have  achieved  or  accomplished  what  they  did  but  for  the 
mothers,  the  wives  and  the  sweethearts  of  Plymouth.  God  bless 
them  all,  present,  past  and  future. 

Mr.  Pond — I  understand  Dr.  Frank  H.  Whittemore  is 
present.  Can  we  hear  a  word  from  him  .f*  There  are  many 
gentlemen  present  whom  we  should  be  pleased  to  hear,  but  the 
hour  is  late  and  we  do  not  think  it  will  be  advisable  to  extend  it. 
We  have  numerous  letters  of  regret,  but  I  will  not  read  them. 
There  are  many  here,  quite  a  number  from  Thomaston, 
whom  we  should  be  glad  to  hear  if  we  had  the  time,  but  we 
have  other  things  to  attend  to,  and  I  feel  that  we  must  draw 
these  exercises  to  a  close,  and  we  will  close  by  singing  America. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  exercises  in  the  tent  the  guests  of 
the  occasion  repaired  to    the    basement    of  the    Congregational 


CEXTENMAL    CEI.EHK A  1  ION.  I97 

church  where  tables  boutiteouslv  supplied  had  been  spread  for 
300,  every  seat  being  occupied.  It  was  a  regular  old-fashioned 
New  England  spread,  including  apple-sauce  made  from  a  tree 
set  out  by  Rev.  Mr.  Todd,  now  standing  on  J.  C  Fenn's  farm. 
In  the  afternoon  a  concert  was  held  in  the  tent,  Colt's  orches- 
tra rendering  the  following  programme,  repeating  in  addition  the 
overture,    "William  Tell,"  given  during  the  morning: 

"War  March  of  the  Priests  from  Atlialia," Mendelssohn 

Overture,  "Fra  Diavolo,"  ....  Auber 

Solo  for  Cornet,  "Cavatinu."  "Robert  II  Diavolo." Meyerbeer 

Performed  by  Robert  R.  Hall. 

Intermezzo,  from  "Cavalleria  Rusticana," Mascagani 

Traumerei  (For  String  Instruments  Only) Schumann 

Grand  Selection,  "Faust," Gounod 

Overture  "Poet  and  Peasant," Suppe 

The  concert  was  enjoyed  by  an  overflowing  tent  full  of  peo- 
ple. Probably  more  than  i,ooo  attended  at  each  service,  morn- 
ing and  afternoon. 

The  centennial  services  closed  with  an  organ  recital  in  the 
Congregational  Church  at  8  p.  m.,  the  building  being  full. 
Following  is  the  programme  given  : 

Grand  Choeur,  in  E  fiat Guilmont 

Russian   Romance H.   Hoffmann 

Song,  "The   Magic   Song" Myer  Helmund 

Mr.  G.   Robert  Merriman. 

Finale,  from  5th  Symphony Beethoven 

Bourree,  in  B  minor Dupont 

Song,  "In  Maytime" Becker 

Mi.ss  Jessie  L.  Griggs. 

March,  from  "Aida" Verdi 

"Liebeslied" Nevin 

Song,  "As  the  Dawn" Cantor 

Mr.  Jesse  R.  (iaylord. 

Communion,  in  G  major Bati-ste 

Overture,  "The  Pearl  of  Bagdad" Loretz 

The  centennial  proved  itself  a  success,  and  the  exercises, 
under  Mr.  Pond  s  direction,  were  carried  out  admirablv  and  to 
the  satisfaction  of  alll. 

It  was  a  grand  reunion  of  not  only  those  who  lived  nearby, 
but  of  former  residents  who  had  become  scattered  in  all  direc- 
tions. A  large  number  of  prominent  people  from  other  towns 
were  also  present.  Registers  were  provided,  that  all  wdio 
attended  were  requested  to  sign. 

The  Town  Hall  was  used  for  the  loan  exhibition,  which  was 
filled  with  curios  that  made  a  display  worth  going  miles 
to  see.  The  list  is  published  elsewhere,  followed  by  the  letters 
of  regret. 

Such  an  undertaking  is  only  accomplished  by  hard  work, 
and  while  the  various  members  did  their  work  well,  special 
credit  should  be  given   to   Jason  C.  Fenn,  who  did   the  clerical 


[9S 


HISrOKV    OF    FLNMOUIH. 


"^■ff' 

^ 

1 
^ 

■% 

%, 

% 

'% 

r    - 

Loan  h 

\hibit.  • 

General 

View. 

E.xliibit  lit   f-uniiture 


CEN  IKN-NIAI.    CKI.liliKA  I'lON.  I99 

work  aiul  attended  to  all  the   big  anil   little  details,  which   only 
those  who  have  looked  after  snch  things  can  appreciate. 
The  exhibits  in  Town  Hall  were  as  follows: 

CHINA,     (JLASS    AM)    orilKK    T AIU.KWARK. 

China — Chas.  Purrington. 

Large  tumbler — C.  I.  Allen. 

Old  crockery,  two  pewter  jjkittcrs,  "Johnin-  Bull"  ]:)itchcr — W.  F. 
Tolles. 

Crockery,  pie  plate,  old  bottle,  large   tumbler — Miss  Celinda  Allen. 

Salt  dishes  (70  years  old) — Mrs.  Bassett. 

Pewter  plate,  tea  pot — Samuel  Tolles. 

^lilk  ]5itcher  and  sugar  bowl,  cup  and  saucer — Miss  Hattie  Tolles. 

Plate — Mrs.  Stone. 

Two  dishes — Mrs.  Egan. 

Tea  pot,  decanter — Mrs.  Chidsey. 

Plate— Mrs.  Harold. 

Glass — Mrs.  Holcomb. 

Beer  glass,  china,  etc. — Mrs.  Fenn. 

Tea  pot,  sugar  bowl — Mrs.  Arthur  Beach. 

Pewter  platters,  spoons,  earthen  bowl,  glasses,  etc. — Mrs.  D.  Barker. 

vSpoons,  sugar  tongs — Mrs.  Griswold. 

Cup,  saucer — Mrs.  George  Beach. 

Pitcher — Mrs.  L.  Hough. 

Dish — Miss  Bailey. 

Silver  teaspoon — Mrs.  R.  W.  Plumb. 

Salt  cellars,  spoon — Mrs.  D.  Mills. 

Blue  bowl,  plates,  cups  and  saucer — Mrs.  Jason  Clemence. 

Knife  and  fork  ( 100  years  old),  gravy  bowl,  cup  and  saucer — Mrs. 
W.  W.  Cone. 

China  plate,  cup  and  .saucer,  pitcher  (60  years),  pitcher  and  tea  pot 
( 100  years),  china  plate  (100  years),  sugar  bowl  (100  years),  sugar  bowl 
and  platter  (150  vears),  crockery,  silver  cream  and  tablespoons — Mrs. 
\V.  G.  Plumb. 

Cup  and  saucer — Mrs.  F.  J.  Judd. 

Blue  pitcher  and  bowl — Mrs.  William  Bates. 

Decanter  and  wine  glasses  (100  years),  punch  glasses,  silver  spoons 
—Mrs.  E.  S.  Beach. 

Teapot,  engraved  in  China,  two  plates — Mrs.  A.  P.  Clark. 

Silver  spoons  (100  years) — Mrs.  R.  J.  Plumb. 

Plates  and  bowl — C.  H.  Baldwin. 

Sugar  tongs — E.  G.  Woodward. 

Sugar  tongs  (100  years),  wine  glass  (103  years) — Mrs.  Homer  Cook. 

Baby's  cup  (75  years) Mrs.  E.  R.  Rouse. 

Silver  spoon — Mrs.  W.  T.  Goodwin. 

Goblets  and  decanter — Mrs.  Loomis. 

Quart  tumblers — C.  P.  Gaylord. 

Glass  decanters  and  two  tumblers,  bottles — C.  Throop. 

Blue  crockery,  teapot  and  sugar  bowl  (Wilkie  pattern),  sugar  bowl 
(nearly  100  years  old),  pink  teapot — H.  E.  Hinman. 

Set  of  China,  60  years — C.  S.  Smith. 

Blue  crockery,  baby  cup — Mrs.  Rice. 

Crockeiy,  pink  and  blue — Mrs.  A.  I.  Kinne. 

Two  pewter  plates,  pink  teapot  and  pitcher — Mrs.  Chas.  Johnson. 

Pitcher  and  platter — Mrs.  Chas.  Keeke. 

Four  pewter  platters  (in  set) — Mrs.  H.  Holt. 

Toddy  glass  nearly  100  years  old — A.  H.  Peck. 

Blue  tureen  and  platter,  pewter  porringer,  teapot,  cup  and  saucer, 
milk  pitcher,  decanter — F.  H.  Kellogg. 

Punch  bowl,  pewter  trencher,  sugar  bowl — Levi  Bassett. 

Salt  cellar  (over  100  years  old,  belonged  to  German  duke),  Mrs.  H. 
Miller. 


200  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

Tea  cup— Mrs.  Rus.sell. 

Little  black  teapot,  .sugar  bowl,  milk  cup — Mrs.  Brown. 
Silver  bowl,  teapot — Mrs.  N.  Beach. 

Silver  spoons  (made  from  General  Washington's  spurs*),  wooden 
plates — P.  Cowles. 

Large  platter  (114  years  old,  brought  from  Ireland) — Mrs.   Munane. 
Toddy  glass,  plate  (60  years  old) — Mr.   Adams. 

FANCY    WORK. 

Bead  bag  (6  years) — E.  S.  Beach. 

Sampler — G.  Boyington. 

Sampler  (60  years) — R.  J.  Plumb. 

Needle  work  (picture),  pocket  book — Mrs.  K.  Gaylord. 

Embroidery — Mrs.  Rou.se. 

Needle  case — W.  T.  Goodwin. 

Hand  embroidered  lawn  collar — F.  P.  ToUes. 

Beaded  bag — Mrs.  Rice.     Also  beaded  necklace. 

Tidy  (knit  by  lady  over  90  years  old) — Mrs.  Warner. 

Sampler,  cloth  spun  by  child  10  years  old — Mrs.  W.  Clark. 

Two  beaded  purses — Mart.  Camp. 

COMHS,    BUCKLES,    ETC. 

Silver  shoe  buckle— A.  P.  Clark. 

Bull's  eye  watch — Miss  C.  Allen. 

Comb — Mrs.  Lyman. 

Locket — Mrs.  Stime. 

Back  comb,  buckles,  silver  sleeve  buttons — C.  Holt. 

High  back  comb — G.  H.  Bates. 

Rivetted  ivory  comb — Mrs.  F.  Ryals. 

FURNITURE. 

Brass  clock  (first  one  made  by  Eli  Terry) — C.  L  Allen. 

Chair  of  ex-Governor  Trumbull — W.  H.  Scott. 

Chair — C.  Purrington. 

Settle,  secretary — W.  F.  ToUes. 

Stand — Celinda  Allen. 

Chair— Mrs.  F.  Alford. 

Clock,  stand,  looking  glass — Mrs.  Purcell. 

Chair— Mrs.  A.  John. 

Chair— Mrs.  Chidsey. 

Looking  glass — Mrs.   O'Donnell. 

Locjking  glas.s — Mrs.  Geo.  Beach. 

Three-legged  stand  (hand  made,  carved,  very  old) — Mrs.   Decker. 

Chair  (over  100  years  old) — C.  Holt. 

Captain's  sea  che.st — F.  H.  Kellogg. 

Chair  (about  130  years),  looking  gla.ss  (ancient) — Mrs.  Warner. 

Armchair  (over  120  years) — Mrs.  N.  Beach. 

Chair,  belonging  to  Dr.  Wm.  Woodruff's  father — Jolm  Cronan. 

Chest  of  drawers,  armchair — Mrs.  Hough. 

Three-legged  cherry  stand — J.  Clemence. 

Table— H.  D.  Allen. 

High  chair  (75  years),  chair  (90  years),  chests — W.  G.  Plumb. 

Mahogony  table — Mrs.  Ludholtz. 

Chains— E.  S.  Beach. 

Table  (150  years),  mirror  (150  years)  chair — W.  (t.  (Toodwin. 

Splint-bottom  chair — A.  (iriffin. 

*After  George  Washington '.s  death  in  1709,  his  silver  spurs  were  handed  down 
to  his  cousin,  Norman  Woodruff,  who  was  the  father  of  James  and  John  Woodruff, 
who  lived  in  Terryville  many  years.  Norman  Woodrufi  was  Mrs.  H.  V.  Minor's 
grandfather,  the  spurs  being  inade  into  spoons  in  1842,  at  the  time  of  the  marriage 
of  her  mother,  by  Rogers  &  Co.  Mrs.  Minor  is  also  a  descendant  of  Stephen  Hart, 
who  "forded"  the  river  in  163s,  from  whence  Hart — ford  derived  its  name. 


CENTEN'NMAI.    C  KI.EHH  A  IIOX.  20I 

Chairs — S.  Fenn. 

Chair  (200  years  old) — Mrs.  A.  MnuldUird]). 
Locker — E.  Hinnian. 
Mirror,  chair — Miss  Ann  Brooks. 
Cliair — Mrs.  C.  Troop. 
Gilt-framed  mirror — Mrs.  Rice. 

Child's  chair — A.  I.  Kinne.  (Witllcd  wilh  jackknife  and  used  for 
three  generations. ) 

Cl(K'k  and  table — Chas.  Johnson. 

Old  chairs  and  round  table — Mr.  Winslow. 

Bureau,  with  swell  front — Mrs.  Armsbuster. 

Old  .stand— Kate  Hanlev. 

Chair— G.   Baldwin. 

M.VCIIINKS    AMI    WKAVINi;    AI'lM.rVXCKS. 

Spinning'  wheel,  linen  and  wool — W.  G.  Plumb. 
Spinning  wheels  and  reels — S.  Fenn. 
Spinning  wheel  and  linen  wheel — Mrs.  Rice. 
Machine  for  dressing  cloth — C.  P.  Gaylord. 
Spinning  wheel — H.  Hinman. 
Tape  loom — Mr.  Win.slow. 

Flax  brake,  flax,  tow,  clock  wheels  (hand  made),  t.iw  card — W.  F. 
Tolles. 

Flax  wheel,  flax,  tape  loom,  hetcbel,  card  for  wool — Miss.  C.  Allen. 
Tow  rolls,  reel,  cards,  hetcheled  flax,  home-spun  yarn — C.  Holt. 
Hetchel — A.  J.  Adams. 
Crimping  machine  from  England — Mrs.  B.  Curtis. 

WEAPONS    OF    WARFARE. 

Sword  used  in  French  and  Indian  war — A.  P.  Clark. 

Flintlock  gun  (150  years) — C.  H.  Baldwin. 

Flint  box — A.  I.  Kinne. 

Ball  from  old  United  States  steamer — D.  G.  Cooper. 

Pistol — A.  Lane. 

Guns — S.  Tolles. 

Flintlock  musket  (in  war  of  1S12) — Mrs.  Hough. 

KEl^DIXO,   T.A.BLK    SPREADS    AM)    LINEN. 

Blue  coverlet  (100  years) — W.  G.  Plumb. 

Hand-made  Iri.sh  linen  towels  (50  years) — Mrs.  ]\L  O'Brien. 

Woolen  blanket  and  quilt  (75  years) — Chas.  Clemens. 

Blanket — A.  Grii^n. 

Rose  coverlet — Mrs.  Goodale. 

Red  quilt,  from  Ireland — Kate  Hanley. 

Table  spread — Mrs.  Lyman. 

Blanket— Mrs.  Holc(mib. 

Home-made  table  cloth — D.  Barker. 

Old  linen— Miss  Bailey. 

Table  spread— R.  W.  Plumb. 

Linen,  bed  quilt  (1,950  pieces,  Si  years  old) — Miss.  C.  Allen. 

Spread — vSamuel  Tolles. 

Table  cloth  (100  years) — Mi.ss  H.  Tolles. 

Pillow  slips  and  towel — Mrs.  Russell. 

Cloth  made  in  Sanwich  Islands  from  bark,  brought  to  United  States 
in  1851,  mat  ditto,  home-made  linen,  linen  jiillow  slips  and  handkerchief, 
towel  (109  years) — G.  H.  Bates. 

PICTIRES    AND    PAINTINO. 

Pictures— Mrs.  Terrill. 
Two  portraits  (1775) — E.  S.  Beach. 
Oil  painting — Mrs.  Rouse. 
Pictul-e  (1S49)— W.  T.  Goodwin. 


iiisioR^'  OF   PI.^■.Mou•^Il. 


Clock  Exhibit. 


Exhibit  lit  [>.iiiitiiii;s 


CKN  rii.NMAI.     CKI.KIJKAI  ION,  ZO"? 

Oil  i)aintini;-— C.  P.  (jaylonl. 

Oil  paintini;- — ^^rs.  Rice. 

Photos— W.  Scott. 

Paintinj^s  (two  portraits  on  ivory,  60  years)— Mrs.  Warner, 

Silouette  of  gold  leaf  painting — Mrs.'Ryles. 

HOOKS    .\M)     I'AI'KKS. 

Book.s— Mrs.   Chidsey. 

Certificate,  with  signatures  of  (',.  Washington  and  Ino.  Knox,  auto- 
graphs—C.  I.  Allen.  -^ 

Primer— Geo.  Kushnell. 
-,.     Bible  (rS3  years),  books  (Wm.  Tell,  [827  and    1S36),  .spelling  book— 
\\  .    r  .  Tolles. 

Geography  (90  years)— Miss  H.  Tolles. 
Account  book — F.  J.  Judd. 
Old  music  and  book— A.  P.  Clark. 
Books— J.  Starr. 

Letter  sealed  (183  years)— Mrs.  H.  Cook. 
Family  register— Mrs.  Rice. 
Paper  from  Burmah— Mr.  Saterlee. 

Book  (i74<),  translated  from  a  book  written  bv  a  Brahmin)— Mrs  W 
Clark. 

Reward  of  Merit  (75  ^xars  old),  book  ("American  Oracle,"  104  years 
old),  geography  (1S17),  Morse's  Atlas  (70  years),  spelling  book  (181O— 
Mrs.  G.  Bates.  '  x-         &  v       3/ 

German  book  (1734)-^-.  John. 

Book  (100  years)— Mrs.  F.  Ryals. 

MO.N'KV. 

One  French  coin,  German  coins- ^Nlrs.  W.  John. 
Portuguese  coin —  Mrs.  H.  Miller. 

S5-00  Confederate  bill,  pa.ssed  through  the  keyhole  at  Libbey  prison 
— Mrs.  Curtiss.  '  ■   '     ' 

Money— Mrs.  D.  Barker. 
Mexican  dollars — F.  C.  Goodwin. 

CLOTHINC;. 

Cloak— .Airs.  Cone. 

Shawls,  belt,  baby  cape  (worn  by  Mrs.  Beach's  mother)  lace  yeil— 
E.  Beach. 

Petticoat  (belonged  to  the  wife  of  Rey.  Andrew  Storr's)— Mrs 
Gaylord. 

Shawl— Carl  Baldwin. 

Old  gown — Mrs.  Rouse. 

Silk  crayat— Mrs.  W.  T.  Goodwin. 

Hand-embroidered  lawn  ctjllar- F.  P.  Tolles. 

Beaded  necklace— Mrs.  Rice. 

Pointed  slippers— Jlrs.  A.  Kinney. 

Swallow-tail  coat— W.  Tijlles. 

Three  old  capes  (white),  shawl,  man's  hat,  ladies'  bonnets— Miss 
Celinda  Allen. 

Muff,  bonnet— Mrs.  Holcomb. 

Cape,  stockings— Miss  Bailey. 

Chinese  slipper  (which  has 'been  worn  byChine.se  kidv)— Mrs  C 
Holt. 

Men's  linen  hose,  pointed  slipper,  striped  linen  trousers— :vrrs  C 
Holt. 

Ancient  shawl— ^Mrs.  Martin  Camp. 

Twt)   ancient   bonnets  (black   straw,  made   by  Mrs.    Beach's   sister 
when    13   years   old),  also   outside   pocket  (worn  '100   years   ag-o)- Mrs 
Nathan  Beach. 

Shawl  (80  years  old),  slippers — Mrs.  (Jeo.  Bates. 


204 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Holt. 


MISCKLI.ANEOUS. 

Candle  mould — Mrs.  K.  S.  Gaylord. 

Turnkey.s — A.   Kinne. 

Thermometer,  radiametre — D.  (x.  Co:)per. 

Steel-yards — Mrs.  A.  John. 

Goose — Mrs.  D.  Barker. 

Bellows — Mrs.  George  Beach. 

Bread  toaster — L.  Hough. 

Bread  tray  for  kneading  bread — Mrs.  George  Bates. 

Andirons — Mrs.   Tomlinson. 

Bread  tray — Mrs.  Hough. 

Goose  (150  years  old) — Mr.  Adams. 

Wooden  shovel — Mrs.  Burton  Curtis. 

Brass  kettles,  candle  lantern,   foot  stoves,   warming  pan — Mrs.    H. 


Foot  stoves,  warming  pan — C.  Holt. 

Ancient  horn — F.  Kellogg. 

Foot  stove — L.  Bassett. 

Willow  basket  (for  }-arn  when  knitting) — Mrs.  Watson  Clark. 

Andirons,  snuffers  and  trav — Mrs.  Brown. 


Miscellaneous  Exhibit. 


Wooden  mortar  (made  in  England,  over  175  3'ears  old) — Mrs.  N. 
Beach. 

Wooden  bowl  (200  vears  old),  knitting  needle  case  (45  years  old) — 
Mrs.  G.  Bates. 

Pearl  fish  hook — D.  G.  Cooper. 

Minerals,  also  purse — C.  Purrington. 

Foot  .stoves,  gridirons,  knitting  needle  case,  tin  lantern,  mortar — 
W.  Tolles. 

Bread  tins,  snuffer,  razor — Miss  C.  Allen. 

Jack  knife— Miss  H.  Tolles. 

Foot  stove,  lantern — Mrs.  Fenn. 

Fire  shovel — Miss  Bailey. 

Warming  pan — Mrs.  D.  Mills. 

Mortar— H.   D.  Allen. 

Tin  lantern,  foot  stove — F.  Judd. 

Warming  pan  (300  years  old) — D.  Griffin. 

Warming  pan  (100  years  old) — E.  S.  Beach. 

Side-saddle  (over  100  years) — A.  P.  Clark. 


CENTKN'MAI,     CELKI5K  ATION.  205 

Cane  (1703) — J.  Starr. 

Candle  snuffers — E.  L.  Pond. 

Stone  from  oldest  frame  hou.se  in  America — W.  L.  Norton. 

l""()ot  stove,  hand-forg'ed  pitch  fork — Mrs.  Rouse. 

Tin  apple  dish — \V.   F.  (ioodwin. 

Brass  andirons — Steven  Fenn. 

Glass  candle  sticks — Mrs.   Loomis. 

Wooden  bottle — ]\Irs.  Ann  Brooks. 

Copper  warminij;  pan — A.  I.  Kinne. 

Warming  jxin — Charles  Johnson. 

Bible  (1706),  old  books,  clarionet,  large  blue  mug  brought  from  Eng- 
land bv  Stephen  Bucknall,  silver  tea  measure,  old  scales,  lace  collar, 
linen — E.  M.  Talmadge. 

Copy  of  first  edition  of  "  Hartford  Courant"  —  E.   M.    Talmadge. 

Fac-simile  of  first  newspaper  published  in  the  United  States,  (1703,) 
sugar  bowl,  book  case — W.  S.  Edgarton. 

Paintings  on  gla.ss,  Chinese  paintings,  wooden  trav — Miss  E.  B. 
Wells. 

Lace,  hmg  shawl  of  Madame  Bellamy's,  caps  worn  by  Mrs.  Hart 
when  an  infant,  tin  tea  caddy,  pewter  porringer,  N.  E.  primer — Mrs.  S. 
Kellogg. 

Books,  worked  table  cover,  pewter — Mrs.  M.  Leach. 

Boot-jack  u.sed  in  the  family  by  succes.sive  generations  for  150 
years,  tinder  box,  weaver's  shuttle,  wooden  saucer  used  through  the 
Revolutionary  War,  hatchet,  books,  notes  on  farming,  1794,  The  In- 
structor, 1767,  dictionary — Mrs.  John  Warner. 

Butter  moulds,  spoon  moulds,  gun   150  years — jNIr.  Sheldon   Potter. 

Platters,  bread  bags,  embroidered  shawls,  stand,  chair,  bed  spread, 
toilet  cover,  shell  fan,  comb — ^Vlrs.  George  Langdon. 

Chairs,  clock,  one  of  the  first  Wheeler  Sz  Wilson  sewing  machines — 
Mrs.  George  Wedge  (Todd  Hollow). 

Chair — Mrs.  Helen  Hough. 

Decanter — Mr.  Chauncey  Beach. 

Yen,'  curious  stand,  200  years,  bible,  1767,  shuttle  for  weaving  car- 
riage lace,  chair  of  Miss  Anna  Darrows,  pitcher  and  plate,  linen  lace 
cap  border,  all  from  Scotland  except  the  chair — Mrs.  Walter  Webb. 

Blue  covered  dish — Mrs.  Whiting. 

Chair,  100  years,  sugar  bowl — Mrs.  Amos  Barnes. 

Teapot,  baskets,  boy's  stockings  knit  of  linen,  books,  wheels  and 
swifts,  grain  fan — Mrs.  A.  P.  Fenn. 

Prayer  book  and  Bible  (presented  by  the  English  Society  fen-  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel),  contribution  boxes — St.  Peter's  Church. 

Minerals,  crockery,  spectacles,  .snuffers  and  tray,  bread  trays,  knife 
(1785),  singing  book — Mrs.  Enos  Blakeslee. 

Plates,  platters,  salt  cellar,  double  foot  stove  (made  m  Plymouth), 
"Litchfield  Monitor"  (containing  notice  of  Washington's  death),  collec- 
tion of  coins — Mrs.  Arthur  Beardsley. 

Pitch  pipe,  singing  books  (with  patent  ncjtes  and  wooden  cover — 
John  Bradley. 

Tin  lantern,  pewter  lamp,  cup  and  plate,  tea  pot,  looking  glass,  key 
for  unlocking  bolt,  scrap  book,  books,  N.  E.  primer,  spelling  books, 
Lindley  Murray  grammar,  sermons,  etc.  (samples  of  three  generations) 
— Mrs.' J.  B.  Atwood. 

Chairs,  wheels  and  reels,  candlesticks,  forks,  .shears,  quilt,  toddy 
stick — Mrs.  S.  J.  Hoadley 

Turnkey — Dr.  Heath. 

Frcmt  of  pulpit  from  the  First  Congregational  Church — Mrs.  E.  J. 
Morse. 

Shell  comb — Mrs.  Porter  Rice. 

Tin  oven  and  dripping  pan,  Indian  scalp  knife  (found  near  house), 
silk  dress  waist,  old  calico — Mr.  Charles  Baldwin. 

Chair  (125  years  old) — Mr.  Cyrus  Skilton. 

Sword  used  in  Revolution — Mr.  H.  Ploucquet. 


2o6  HIS'IOKV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

Old  blue  china,  with  curious  fish  platter  (brought  from  China),  chairs, 
table,  soap  dish  (for  soft  soap),  candle  sticks,  bread  basket,  carders, 
Bible— Mr.  Wm.  Bull. 

Cherry  table  (150  years),  turnpike  fare  board,  full  collection  of  green- 
backs, glass  mug,  etc. — B^-ron  Tuttle. 

Cup  made  from  Charter  Oak,  known  to  be  genuine — ^Mr.  A.  J.  Hill. 

Corn  fan  (for  separating  chaff  from  grain),  tool  used  to  ftjrm  inside 
of  pewter  tumblers  (manufactured  on  Town  Hill  about  1830),  "conch 
shell"  (supposed  to  be  100  j-ears  old,  once  owned  by  Jared  Blakeslee), 
nail  maker's  hammer  (used  by  Randall  Mathews  before  the  days  of  cut 
nails),  flax  (ready  to  spin)  and  linen  shirt  (from  same  crop,  grown  by 
Elam  Fenn  about  1857),  pewter  faucet  (patented  about  iSio  by  Gains 
Fenn  and  manufactured  on  Town  Hill),  folding  table  (100  years  old), 
.sheep  shears — Jason  C.  Fenn.   . 


LETTERS  OK  REGRET. 


S'l'ATK.  OK  CoNNKCTICL  T,    Exi-XTTI  VK   I)  Kl' A  IMM  KNT,    I 

Haktkokd,  Alay  14,  1S95.       \ 
Chairman   Comm  1  tikk  on   Cki.ki;rai'ion,   Town   ok  Piamoi  th,    Tp.kkv- 

viLi.E,  Conn. 

Dear  vSir — Govern<_)r  Cofifin  duly  received  \-our  kind  in\-itation  lo  at- 
tend the  celebration  to-day  and  to-morrow,  and  has  been  hoping  tcj  be 
present  at  the  exercises  this  afternoon  or  evening,  or  to-morrow. 

The  pressure  of  official  business  has,  however,  been  and  remains  so 
severe  that  he  has  been  compelled,  under  the  orders  of  his  physician,  to 
cancel  all  engagements  other  than  those  which  it  is  impossible  for  him 
to  omit  without  disregarding  his  official  duties. 

He  instructs  me  to  thank  you,  and  those  whom  you  represent,  most 
cordiall}-,  for  your  thoughtful  attention,  and  to  express  his  sincerest 
good  wishes  for  the  complete  success  of  yf)ur  very  interesting  and  im- 
portant celebration.  Yours  truly, 

Frank  D.  Hainks, 

Executive  Secretary. 


Nkw  Havkn,  May  11,    1S95. 
Richard  Baldwin,  Escj.,   Tkkrvvii.i.e,  Conn. 

Dear  Mr.  Baldwin — I  have  anticipated  attending  the  celebration  in 
Plymouth  next  week,  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure,  but  yesterday  en- 
gagements came  up  which  will  make  it  impossible  for  me  to  be  present. 

Thanking  you  for  your  kind  invitation  and  with  best  wi.shes  for  the 
success  of  the  event,  I  remain,  Yours  truly, 

C.    E.    HoADI.KV. 


Nkw  York,  May  13,  1895. 
Mr.  Jason   Fenn: 

My  Dear  Sir — I  had  hoped  to  be  with  you  on  Plymouth's  Centennial, 
but  much  to  my  regret,  I  shall  be  unable  to  do  so.  Please  express  my 
thanks  to  the  committee  for  their  kind  invitation.  My  great  great 
grandfather,  Moses  Foote,  and  his  wife,  Ruth  Butler,  were  among  the 
early  settlers  of  Northbury  and  members  of  the  old  church  there,  as 
early  as  1749. 

Four  stalwart  sons  grew  up  and  became  members  of  the  old  church, 
with  their  wives,  and  two  of  their  sisters.  Three  of  the  sons  were  in 
service  in  the  Revolution  from  old  Northbury,  and  two  of  them,  in  that 
great  struggle,  gave  up  their  lives  for  their  countr}\  One,  Ebenezer, 
died  while  in  service  in  177S,  at  Horse  Neck  (now  Greenwich),  Conn., 
and  in  the  same  year  his  wid(jw,  Rebecca,  and  his  sister,  Lydia  (wife  of 
Isaac  Curtis),  united  with  the  old  church.  So  afflictions  not  infrequently 
lead  us  to  the  cross.  David  was  killed  bj-  the  British  at  Fairfield  in 
their  attack  upon  that  place  in  1779.  He  and  his  wife  were  members 
and  had  been  for  many  years.  In  1769,  ten  of  the  Foote  familv  o-, 
mature  age  were  members  of  the  church  under  Mr.   Storrs'  ministry^ 


2oS  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

and  with  their  families  attended  his  church.  The  membership  was  then 
about  no,  and  about  one  in  eleven  of  the  members  bore  the  name  of 
Foote. 

It  was  wonderful  how  well  the  Foote' s  liked  the  Bronson's.  The 
three  oldest  sons  married  three  daughters  of  John  Bronson,  Jr.  David 
married  Comfort,  Moses  married  Thankful,  Aaron  married  Mary,  and 
then,  as  there  were  probably  no  more  to  be  had,  the  next  son,  Ebenezer, 
married  Rebecca  Barker. 

The  next  and  youngest  son,  Obed,  then  aged  20,  my  great  grand- 
father, married  Mary  Todd,  the  minister's  daughter,  then  about  19 
years  of  age,  and  the  eldest  of  her  father's  family.  Tradition  has  it 
that  she  was  a  favorite  with  the  young  people  and  with  all.  Both  were 
members  of  her  father's  church.  We  can,  perhaps,  imagine  the  prepara- 
tions for  the  wedding,  the  prior  announcement  from  the  pulpit,  as  cus- 
tomary in  those  days,  the  procuring  of  the  licen.se,  and  finally,  when 
all  preparations  complete,  the  gathering  of  young  men  and  maidens  of 
the  congregation,  the  parents,  and  the  simple  ceremony  of  the  marriage 
of  the  minister's  daughter.  Eleven  children  were  the  fruit  of  the  happy 
marriage,  and  all  grew  to  maturity.  Seven  of  them  were  born  in  good 
old  Northbury  and  were  baptized  in  the  old  church,  and  one  of  these, 
my  gi-andfather  Samuel,  was  baptized  there  on  May  27,  1770.  In  later 
years  he  used  to  say  that  when  a  boy  he  lived  in  the  northeast  part  of 
the  town,  near  Poland  river,  and  used  to  go  two  or  three  miles  to  meet- 
ing, that  Rev.  Storrs  was  their  minister  and  wore  a  big  white  wig.  The 
farm  where  he  lived  in  boyhood  was  sold  in  1779  to  Ozias  Tyler  for 
$8,000,  Continental  money. 

A  sterling  set  these  eleven  children  were,  and  Mary  Todd  brought 
them  up  to  be  a  blessing  to  the  community.  One  of  them,  in  the  year  1S47, 
in  writing  his  remembrances  of  his  grandfather.  Rev.  Samuel  Todd, 
.says:  "I  .shall  not  forget  how  he  used  to  shake  his  large  white  wig 
when  any  one  of  my  good  mother's  little  flock  made  a  mistake  in  the 
old  Westminister  catechism."  These  eleven  children  were  possessed  of 
more  than  ordinary  talent,  and  each  filled  a  sphere  of  usefulness  in  their 
day  and  generation.  And  in  turn  they  brought  up  their  children  well. 
Several  were  judges  on  the  bench,  several  legislators,  several  ministers. 
One  of  Mary  Todd's  children  (Bernice  Foote)  had  four  sons,  three  of 
whom  were  ministers,  who  were  a  power  in  the  land  in  their  day.  The 
Christian  influence  of  Obed  and  Mary  Foote  still  lives  among  their 
numerous  descendants  from  generation  to  generation. 

I  send  you,  as  a  loan  to  the  centennial  loan  exhibition,  an  old- 
fashioned  silhouette  of  Mary  Todd  Foote,  made  when  she  was  advanced 
in  years.  .  I  also  send  you  a  spoon  made  by  Joseph  Hopkins,  of  Water- 
bury.  You  will  find  a  biographical  sketch  of  him  in  Bronson's  Histo:y 
of  Waterbury,  page  411.  This  spoon  was  made  for  Rev.  Samuel  Todd 
about  1755  to  1760.  It  bears  the  maker's  name,  stamped  on  the  handle. 
It  bears  the  engraved  initials  T.,  S.  M.,  .standing  for  Todd,  Samuel  and 
Mary.  It  is  not  silver.  Ministers  in  those  days,  with  a  salary  of  ;^ioo  a 
year,  like  Mr.  Todd's,  payable  in  "Old  Tenor"  Connecticut  currrency, 
could  not  afford  to  buy  silver,  especially  as  it  took  eleven  shillings  old  . 
Tenor  paper  currency,  in  which  his  salary  was  paid,  to  buy  (_>ne  shilling 
in  silver. 

And  this  brings  me  to  my  most  worthy  ancestor.  Rev.  Samuel  Todd, 
whose  daughter  married  Obed  Foote.  He  was  Northbury' s  first  minis- 
ter. Here  he  came,  with  his  young  wife  Mercy  Evans,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three,  in  1740,  to  give  to  the  new  church  of  Northbury  the  best 
efforts  of  an  earnest  life.  They  were  soon  established  in  their  new 
home,  the  house  built  for  them  by  the  good  people.  The  size  of  it  was 
25x32,  as  appears  from  the  records.  In  Northbury  all  his  children  were 
born,  and  here  twenty-four  of  the  best  j-ears  of  his  life  were  given  de- 
votedly to  the  people  of  this  church  and  community.  It  was  a  time  of 
great  trials.  The  controversy  between  the  "old  lights"  and  the  "new 
lights "  was  at  its  height  during  these  years,  only  equalled  by  that 
eighty  years  later  in  Massachusetts  between  the  orthodox  Congregation- 


CENTENNIAL     CELEBUATION.  209 

alists  and  the  Unitarians,  disrupting  churches  and  pastoral  relations 
with  their  flocks.  Mr.  Todd  was  one  of  the  "new  lights."  Financial 
troubles,  too,  came  to  vex  the  people.  When  Mr.  Todd  came  in  1740  at 
;^ioo  per  year  in  'Old  Tenor"  paper  currency  and  fire  wood,  it  took  a 
little  over'three  shillings,  "Old  Tener,"  to  buy  a  silver  shilling.  Paper 
money  increased  so  that  in  1755  it  took  eleven  shillings  of  "Old  Tener" 
currency  to  buy  a  silver  shilling.  In  the  meantime,  with  a  growing 
family,  a  fixed  salary  payable  in  a  constantly  depreciating  currency, 
frequent  changes  were  necessary  to  correspond  with  depreciation  in 
mone}',  and  this  led  to  complaints,  for  pastor  and  people  both  suff^ered. 
The  church  was  in  its  infancy,  a  feeble  church  struggling  to  pay  its  ex- 
penses, and  to  build  and  finish  their  new  church,  and  it  was  not  done 
for  nearly  twenty  years.  Then  this  currency  inflation  culminated  in 
1756  and  was  succeeded  by  a  violent  currency  contraction,  for  the  colony 
of  Connecticut  decided  to  pay  only  one  shilling  silver  for  nine  of  its  old 
tenor  currency  and  to  repudiate  the  remainder,  and  it  did  so.  In  this  year, 
Mr.  Todd,  knowing  the  burdens  of  his  people,  presented  the  following: 
"To  the  society  meeting  at  Northbury,  Februar}^  12,  1756:  Christian 
brethren  and  friends,  there  are  evidently  many  difficulties  subsisting 
among  us,  in  particular  with  regard  to  my  support  among  you,  the 
which  we  have  great  reasons  to  suspect  is  o;u'  great  ground  and 
rise  of  all  t/ie  rest,  the  which  is  just  ground  of  great  humiliation  and 
lamentation,  as  greatly  threatening  our  ruin.  Yet,  I  think  I  can  truly 
say,  I  am  free  to  serve  you  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  so  long  as  there 
is  a  hopeful  prospect  of  doing  service  to  your  souls.  And  as  this  day 
you  have  been  consulting  to  find  out  some  method  hopefally  to  make  the 
affair  with  regard  to  my  support  more  comfortable,  and  have  concluded 
upon  none,  I  would  therefore  propose  to  your  consideration  the  one 
method,  in  order  for  my  support  in  the  time  to  come,  and  that  is  by  free 
contribution ;  and  to  this  end  to  have  a  public  contribution  once  in  two 
months  on  the  Lord's  day  at  the  close  of  the  evening  worship,  to  be  gath- 
ered by  the  deacons,  to  begin  the  first  Sabbath  of  March  next,  and  what 
any  one  shall  see  it  their  duty  to  hand  in  at  other  time,  it  shall  be  accept- 
able, and  if  the  society  please  you  may  make  a  grant  of  the  ministry 
money  to  me.  If  this  society  agree  in  and  desire,  record  may  be  made 
thereof,  and  I  will  serve  you  by  the  grace  of  God,  as  long  as  God  by 
his  providence  shall  continue  ine  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  among 
you.  Requesting  an  interest  in  your  prayers  that  I  may  be  abundantly 
faithful  and  successful  among  you,  from  yours  to  serve  in  the  order  of 
the  Gospel.  Samuel  Todd." 

We  have  no  one  to  narrate  to  us  the  trials  of  those  times,  through 
Queen  Anne's  war  and  the  old  French  war.  Nor  do  we  know  what  was 
the  harvest  resulting  from  the  good  seed  sown  by  Mr.  Todd  in  those 
vears  of  discouragement  and  trial.  Rev.  E.  B.  Hilliard  wrote  to  me  in 
1892: 

"I  have  a  very  high  estimate  of  Mr.  Todd.  He  was  the  Apostle  of 
Plymouth  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  term,  and  deserves  the  highest 
honor  the  town  can  pay  him.  I  have  proposed  that  we  endeavor  to 
erect  a  tablet  to  his  memory  in  the  Plymouth  church." 

Twenty-four  of  his  best  years  had  been  given  to  Northbury  when 
in  1 764  he  was  dismissed  at  his  own  request.  The  next  two  years  he 
preached  at  Lanesboro,  Mass.  Then  he  went  to  Adams,  Mass.,  anew 
settlement,  where  he  organized  the  first  Congregational  church,  and  was 
its  pastor  for  twelve  j'ears. 

After  the  close  of  his  pastorate  he  served  as  chaplain  in  the  Conti- 
nental army  for  a  .short  time,  but  his  health  and  age  (now  past  sixty), 
forbade  his  continuance  and  he  retired  from  that  service.  His  son 
Samuel,  born  in  Northbury,  about  this  time  was  in  Williams'  Massachu- 
setts' regiment  in  the  Burgoyne  campaign  and  was  at  his  surrender  at 
.Saratoga.  Rev.  Mr.  Todd  with  his  wife  retired  first  to  his  sister's  at 
Northfield,  Mass.,  and  thence  in  1782  to  Oxford,  N.  H.,  where  after 
preaching  occasionally  in  the  new  settlements,  as  he  was  able,  he  finally 
received   the   Master's  summons  June  10,   1789,  aged    72.     His   widow 


2IO  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

died  >Septeniber  14,  1804,  aged  87.  Grave  stones  mark  their  burial  place. 
Their  memory  should  be  tenderly  cherished  by  the  church  of  their  early 
labors,  to  which  was  devoted  their  life's  best  work. 

So  many  of  my  ancestors  spent  their  days  at  old  Northbury  in  early 
times  that  I  feel  interested  in  this  centennial,  and  I  much  regret  that  I 
cannot  be  present.  But  I  send  greetings  in  behalf  of  the  descendants 
of  Rev.  Samuel  Todd  and  Mercy  Evans  Todd,  and  of  Obed  Foote  and 
Mary  Todd  Foote,  to  the  good  people  of  Plymouth  and  those  who  cele- 
brate the  day  with  them.  May  it  be  a  day  of  thanksgiving  for  the  bless- 
ings of  the  last  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  for  our  Christian  ancestry ! 

Let  eloquence,  poetry,  music  and  history  combine  to  make  the  day 
interesting  for  young  and  old.  All  honor  to  our  Plymouth  ancestry ! 
and  may  their  virtues  be  perpetuated  in  their  descendants. 

I  am,  yours  with  sincere  respect,  Horace  Allen  Foote. 


New  York,  May  13,  1S95. 
George  Langdon,  Esq.,  Plymouth,  Conn.: 

Dear  Sir: — I  cannot  but  feel  thankful  for  the  invitation  kindly  sent 
to  me  to  be  present  at  the  Plymouth  Centennial  Celebration  on  the  14th 
and  15th  of  May,  inst.  Were  it  possible  I  would  gladly  be  with  you  an 
that  occasion.  It  would  be  a  pleasure  to  me  to  make  once  more  even  a 
short  visit  to  Plymouth,  my  birthplace,  and  especially  at  such  a  most 
interesting  time  as  surely  may  be  expected. 

Although  my  "home  life"  in  Plymouth  was  only  a  "span  long,"  my 
visits  there  during  my  boyhood  days  were  frequent  and  fondly  remem- 
bered, as  is  also  a  year  at  the  academy.  All  my  recollections  of  the  town 
and  its  people  are  full  of  pride  and  of  gladness.  Pride,  that  I  was  born 
among  the  "rock-ribbed  hills"  of  Litchfield  County,  where  the  breezes 
of  heaven  are  fresh  and  pure,  but  no  purer  than  were  the  thoughts 
and  the  purposes  which  inspired  the  hearts  and  uplifted  the  souls  of  the 
sturdy  and  earnest  men  and  women  of  that  far-famed  section  of  old 
Connecticut. 

With  gladness,  because  of  the  many  days  spent  there,  days  such  as 
fill  a  small  boy's  whole  being  with  delight,  tramping  over  the  hills  and 
through  the  woods  on  cool,  crispy,  yet  sunny  autumn  mornings — 

"When  the  sound  of  dropping  nuts  is  heard. 
Though  all  the  trees  are  still." 

Then,  too,  at  the  annual  feast  of  good  trings — chicken  pies,  roast 
goose  and  Indian  puddings  (boiled  in  a  bag) — prepared  so  temptingly 
by  the  dear  old  grandmother  at  Thanksgiving  times.  Later  on  the 
moonlight  evening  sliding  down  "Flag  Hollow  Hill."  When  early 
spring  time  came,  there  was  the  tapping  of  the  maple  trees  back  on  the 
hillside,  the  boiling  of  pails  and  pails  of  the  sap — impatiently,  perhaps 
—waiting  for  the  result,  but  by  and  by  rejoicing  because  the  sweetest 
and  the  best  maple  sugar  ever  tasted  was  the  product. 

A  little  later,  when  the  sun  poured  down  its  summer  heat,  came 
frequent  bathing  and  splashing  in  the  little  streamlet  and  its  quiet  pools 
under  the  trees  down  below  Uncle  Miles'  old  tannerj-.  Such  sports  and 
occupations  in  boyhood  days  are  remembered  with  gladness — are  never 
forgotten. 

"  The  names  and  the  features  of  many  of  the  worthy  and  honored 
men  living  in  Plymouth  in  the  old  days  are  well  remembered.  My  be- 
lief was,  and  the  conviction  remains  with  me  yet,  that  nowhere  could 
have  lived  any  more  deserving  of  esteem  and  honor  than  such  men  as 
Eli  Terry,  Apollos  Warner,  Edwin  Talmadge,  Squire  Butler,  Stephen 
Mitchell,  Edward  Langdon,  Dr.  Woodruff,  also  the  .son  of  "Dr.  Bill," 
Mr.  Cooley,  Lucius  Bradley,  Captain  Isaac  Bull,  Squire  Blakeslee,  Seth 
Thomas,  Silas  Hoadley,  Eli  Terry,  Jr.,  Silas  B.  Terry,  and  many 
others — prominent,  influential  and  enterprising  citizens.  Some  of  the 
boys  and  girls  of  the  old  days  are  also  remembered  with  pleasure.     I 


CENTENNIAL     CEI.EHK  ATIOX.  211 

will  mention  only  a  few  of  them:  Egbert  Butler  and  Malcomb,  John 
Calhoun,  Edward  Warner  and  Sarah,  Catherine  Talmadge,  George 
Langdon,  David  Warner,  Edwin  Johnson,  Lvman,  Norman,  Walter  and 
Sam  Smith. 

I  cannot  forget  Mr.  Isham,  the  teacher  at  the  Academy  in  1S36. 
He  was  a  gentle,  gentlemanly,  lovable  man.  The  old  Academy  itself, 
at  some  time  during  the  intervening  years,  seems  to  have  become  rest- 
less and  perhaps  ambitious  for  a  "western  career,"  possibly  catching 
the  spirit  of  the  old  saying,  ' '  Westward  the  star  of  empire  takes  its 
way,"  for  when  I  last  looked  upon  its  venerated  walls  it  had  abandoned 
its  old  location  and  started  towards  the  setting  sun.  Qiiickly,  no  doubt, 
upon  "second  sober  thought,"  an  honest  home-sick  feeling  gained  the 
mastery,  the  wandering  desire  was  quelled,  and  the  conclusion,  "Plym- 
outh is  good  enough  for  me,"  "There  is  no  place  like  the  old  home," 
prevailed.  Excuse  the  rambling,  incoherent  makeuiD  of  this  epistle. 
In  closing,  I  will  express  a  hope  that  Plymouth  will  have  another  hun- 
dred years  of  peace,  prosperity  and  all  needed  blessings. 

Very  truly  ycjurs, 

.S.  B.  Jkkome. 

[Mr.  Jerome  was  a  son  of  Chauncey  Jerome,  born  in  the  house  now 
occupied  by  Albert  Gaylord.] 


Ai.le(;an,  Mich.,  April  30,  1895. 
J.  C.  Fenn,  Secretary  of  Centennial  Committee,  Plymouth,  Conx. 

We  have  the  pleasure  of  being  honored  with  an  invitation  to  be 
present  at  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  incorporation  of  the  dear  old 
town  of  my  nativity,  and  in  connection  with  that  event  thoughts  of  the 
past  (so  many  of  them)  come  to  my  mind.  Many  pleasant  recollections; 
some  of  which  are  sad  and  cast  a  shadow  over  the  picture  which  is 
.spread  out  before  me — a  map  as  it  were  of  the  changes  which  seventy 
years  of  my  recollections  cover.  Would  that  I  might  present  it  before 
}'our  eyes  as  it  is  photographed  in  mine  as  you  gather  for  your  centen- 
nial celebration.  I  suppose  a  great  multitude  of  people  will  gather  on 
that  occasion.  Could  I  be  present  with  you  and  look  into  the  faces  of 
that  multitude  of  people,  I  should  be  constrained  to  say,  "  One  genera- 
tion passeth  away  and  another  cometh." 

The  old  fathers  have  gone  to  their  reward,  and  to  us,  their  children, 
their  memory  is  blessed.  We  commence  where  they  left  off,  with  their 
lives  and  examples  before  us.  God  has  led  this  generation  out  into 
large  fields  and  laestowed  upon  us  wisdom  and  knowledge,  and  placed 
us  environments  such  as  the  world  has  never  known  before,  and  so 
ladened  us  with  responsibilities,  and  inspired  us  to  recognize  those  re- 
sponsibilities, and  to  put  forth  our  willing  hands  to  the  work  before  us. 
Let  us  consider  the  possibilities  which  may  be  achieved  by  us,  for  soon 
another  generation  will  take  up  the  work  where  we  leave  it  and  they  will 
say  of  us — the  fathers,  where  are  they  ? 

Regrets  that  we  cannot  be  with  you  on  that  occasion  might  be  in 
order,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the  Wise  Disposer  of  Events  seems 
to  interpose  and  thinks  it  not  best.  Our  oft  infirmities  admonish  us  that 
our  very  pleasant  home  which  has  been  provided  is  the  best  place  for  us 
at  our  advanced  time  in  life,  and  so,  however  much  we  may  desire  to 
mingle  with  you  on  that  eventful  occasion,  the  admonition  comes  to  us 
that  in  order  to  prolong  our  days  we  must  be  good  to  ourselves  and  for- 
bear from  engaging  in  those  fatiguing  and  exciting  incidents  which  in 
earlier  days  were  pleasant  and  restful. 

Hoping  you  may  all  enjoy  even  more  of  pleasure  than  j-ou  antici- 
pate, and  that  the  effort  which  has  been  attended  with  much  labor  in 
the  preparation  may  be  eminently  successful,  we  are 

Truly  yours, 

'  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  A.  Fenn. 


212  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

Cedarcrest,   Garrison-on-Hudson. 
Mr.  Jason  C.  Fenn,  Secretary: 

Dear  Sir — Mrs.  Toucey  and  I  anticipated  much  pleasure  in  attend- 
ing the  Plymouth  centennial  celebration.  Mrs.  Toucey's  love  for  her 
old  home  does  not  abate  as  the  years  roll  by.  As  for  myself,  having 
early  in  life  captured  and  carried  off  one  of  her  fairest  and  best  for  my 
companion  in  life,  is  it  a  wonder  that  there  is  a  warm  spot  in  my  heart 
for  the  dear  "old  town"  nestled  in  among  the  hills  of  Litchfield  county? 

It  would  give  us  great  pleasure  to  join  in  your  festivities,  but  a 
recent  injury  to  Mrs.  Toucey  compels  us  at  this  late  day  to  send  regrets, 
but  wishing  you  all  a  happy  and  joyous  time,  one  of  Connecticut's  "old 
time  celebrations,"  I  am  Yours  ti'uly. 

Garrison,  Putnam  Co.,  N.  Y.,  May  12,  1S95.         John  M.  Toucey. 


Rochester,  N.  Y.,  May  ii,  1S95. 
George  Langdon,  Esq.,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Plymouth  Centennlal 
Committee: 
I  received  your  kind  invitation  to  attend  the  celebration  of  May  14 
and  15,  and  had  confidently  expected  to  be  present,  until  to-day  I  find  that 
it  now  seems  impossible  to  leave  home.  Several  of  the  former  residents 
of  Plymouth  have  called  on  me  or  corresponded  with  reference  to  the 
anticipated  meeting,  among  whom  are  David  S.  Mather,  of  Buffalo, 
George  Plumb,  of  Fairport,  N.  Y.,  my  brother,  Wallace  Darrow,  of 
Yorktown,  N.  Y.  All  are  ready  in  any  way  to  contribute  toward  the 
objects  of  the  "Centennial." 

We  cherish  New  England  and  its  institutions  and  influences,  where 
our  fathers  sleep,  with  filial  love.  During  the  fifty  years  of  residence 
in  Rochester  we  have  frequently  visited  the  old  home. 

Yours  Respectfully, 

Erastus  Darrow. 


Harbine,  Neb.,  May  S,  1S95. 
Mr.  Geo.  Langdon,  Chairman  of  Committee: 

My  Dear  Sir — It  would  be  an  intense  satisfaction  to  me  to  be  present 
in  dear  old  Plymouth  next  week.  But  .Coxies  army  got  the  start  of  me. 
So  I  can  only  forward  my  regrets,  together  with  the  earnest  hope  that 
you  may  have  a  royal  gathering  (for  in  this  country  we  all  belong  to  the 
royal  family),  and  that  you  will  all  be  taxed  to  the  utmost  to  find  room 
for  the  gray-headed  girls  and  boys  who  are  permitted  to  do  homage  at 
that  shrine  of  early  associations.  Bristol  was  my  birthplace,  and  it  has 
always  had  tender  associations  on  account  of  kindred  who  lived  or  died 
there,  and  others  who  still  live.  But  my  boyhood  and  youth  belong  to 
Plymouth,  I  played  ball  on  that  green  in  summer.  And  what  glorious 
coasting  we  had  in  winter!  Then,  incidentally  (?)  we  put  in  st)me  time 
trying  to  get  a  start  up  the  ascent  to  the  "Temple  of  Fame,"  under  the 
tutilage  of  Miss  Maria  Smith.  She  used  to  tell  us  that  she  had  eyes  in 
the  back  of  her  head.  Then,  for  a  time,  I  attended  Miss  McNeill's 
select  school  in  basement  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  She  was,  for  me, 
an  inspiring  teacher.  Then  at  the  old  Academy,  when  it  stood  on  the 
east  side  of  the  green.  Several  impressions  remain.  First,  Judge 
Bissell,  of  Torrington,  once  with  a  few  strokes  of  the  pen,  made  and 
gave  to  me,  as  a  reward  of  merit  (I  had  the  most  head  marks  in  spelling), 
the  picture  of  a  goose,  which  I  long  cherished  among  my  treasures. 
Second,  I  recall  the  little  boxes,  with  slide  lids,  which  ambitious  students 
used  slyly  to  cut  in  the  desks,  and  also  the  facility  which  some  acquired 
in  catching  flies  to  put  into  them.  Then  there  was  that  copy  which 
Wallace  Fenn  once  set  in  my  copy  book,  "  England  thinks  she  can  con- 
quer America."  I  said,  "S/ie  can  t  do  it !"  And  I  still  think  .so.  Then 
the  new  school  house  was  built,  and  what  times  we  had  in  our  competi- 
tive study.     The  "parsing"  class  was  the  center  of  interest.     One  little 


CENTENNIAL    CEI.KUH  ATION.  213 

incident — perhaps  Dwight  Terry  will  recall  it,  for  he  will  surely  be  with 
you.  He  sat  in  the  front  single  desk  on  the  west  side,  near  the  chimney. 
One  morning  we  were  reading  in  the  testament.  He  was  wrestling  with 
the  word  "jeopardy"  ("Why  stand  ye  in  jeopardy  every  hour").  It 
was  too  big  for  him — j-e-(ge)-o-(geo)-p-a-r-(geopar)-d-y — when  a  square 
foot  of  plastering,  loosened  by  the  rain,  fell  upon  his  head. 

I  am  reminded  of  a  song  which  often  comes  to  mind,  "Twenty 
Years  Ago."  Only  these  things  occurred  near  the  middle  of  the  century 
whose  close  you  celebrate.  How  I  would  like  to  know  the  history  of 
each  of  those,  my  companions.  In  Plymouth  I  studied  Latin  under  Dr. 
Warren;  thence  I  went  to  Williston  Seminary;  thence  to  Yale.  In  the 
dear  old  church  in  Plymouth  I  was  ordained  to  go  as  chaplain  to  the 
army.  In  that  old  church  I  began  the  Christian  life.  And  during  the 
half  century  almost,  I  have  tried  t(j  serve  faithfully  my  day  and  genera- 
tion. I  am  aware  that  I  do  not  rank  among  those  who  have  become  dis- 
tinguished. But  I  have  not  dishonored  the  home  of  my  boyhood,  nor 
its  neighbor,  the  town  of  my  birth.  I  should  like  to  see  a  list  of  those 
present,  and  to  know  their  present  residences,  occupations,  family  con- 
nections, etc.  I  have  a  good  wife,  who  would  be  an  honor  to  even  a 
Plymouth  circle.     Also  two  manly  sons,  of  whom  we  are  not  ashamed. 

As  the  years  pass,  and  new  forms  and  strange  faces  supplant  the 
old,  may  they  be  full  of  a  noble  ambition  to  maintain  and  develop  to  a 
still  higher  degree  the  principles  of  Christian  patriotism  and  true 
nobility. 

"The  hills  of  New  England,  how  proudly  they  rise. 
In  their  wildness  of  gi-andeur,  to  blend  with  the  skies; 
With  their  far  azure  outlines  and  tall  ancient  trees. 
New  England,  my  country,  I  love  thee  for  these." 

Yours  in  tender  memories,    . 

John  B.  Dog  little. 


Maplkwilii,  Waterijurv,  Conn.: 
My  dear  Mr.  Smith. — Very  much  do  I  regret  my  inability  to  attend 
the  centennial  celebration  at  Plymouth  and  Terrj'-ville  to  which  j-ou  have 
kindly  invited  me.  A  wedding  on  the  fifteenth,  in  which  I  am  inter- 
ested, will  prevent  my  acceptance.  Had  the  date  been  other  than  it  is 
Miss  Hayden  and  I  would  have  endeavored  to  attend. 

Yours  trulv, 
May  8,  1S95.  An.na'L.  Ward. 


Mrs.  Fannie  West  Pogue  regrets  that  she  is  unable  to  attend  the 
centennial  celebration  of  the  incorporation  of  Plymouth,  Connecticut,  at 
Pljmiouth  Center  and  at  Terryville,  May  14  and  15. 

AvuNDALE,  Cincinnati,  May  6,  1S95. 


J.  C.  Fenn,  Sec'v  Centennial  Committee. 

Mrs.  C.  B.  Gunn  regrets  that  her  health  will  not  permit  of  her  ac- 
cepting the  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  centennial  celebration  of  the 
town  of  Plymouth  on  May  14  and  15.  Terryville  was  for  many,  many 
years  a  pleasant  home  and  only  tender  memories  remain  of  the  town 
and  its  people.  May  it  be  a  joyous  celebration  and  reunion  for  all  that 
are  present. 

Hui'KiNTON,  Mass.,  May  iS,  1895. 


214  history  of  plymouth. 

Sec'y  Centennial  Committer,  Plymouth,  Conn. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  B.  Holman  regret  their  not  being  able  to  ac- 
cept the  invitation  to  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  town  of  Ply- 
mouth on  May  14  and  15. 

Mrs.  Holman  has  very  affectionate  remembrances  of  Terry ville  as 
her  girlhood's  home,  and  later  as  teacher  in  the  schools.  To  the  sons 
and  daughters  present  may  the  day  be  full  of  pleasant  greetings  and 
renewed  friendships. 

Hoi'KiNTON,  Mass.,  May  13,  1895. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES 


Founders  of  the  Clock  and  Lock  Industries 


IN  America. 


INTERESTING  DETAILS  OF  THEIR  LIVES. 


Careers    of    Other    People    Who    Made    Plymouth 


Their   Home. 


Eli  Terry. 


CHAPTER     X  . 


CLOCK    MAKERS. 


Plymouth  Made  Famous  by  the  Invention  of  Eli  Terry,  who  was  the  Founder  of 
the  Clock  Business  of  America— Other  Prominent  Makers,  such  as  Seth 
Thomas,  Silas  Hoadley,  Samuel  Camp,  and  Chauncey  Jerome,  were  all  Natives 
of  this  Town. 

LI  TERRY  was  born  in  South  Windsor,  Conn.,  April  13, 
-L-'  1772.  His  ancestor,  Samuel  Terry,  came  to  ancient  vSpring- 
field,  Mass.,  A.  D.  16^4.  Samuel  of  the  fourth  generation  after 
was  born  in  the  year  1750.  He  married  Huldah  Burnham.  Their 
children  were  Eli,  Samuel,  Silas,  Huldah,  Lucy,  Ann,  Naoma, 
Horace,  Clarissa  and  Joseph.  Eli  went  to  Northbury,  then  a 
part  of  Watertown,  in  1793,  to  manufacture  clocks.  He  was 
said  to  be  an  earnest,  thoughtful  young  man  and  exceedingly 
temperate  both  in  eating  and  drinking.  Soon  after  he  married 
Eunice  Warner  of  that  town.  She  was  the  daughter  of  James 
Warner  and  the  granddaughter  of  John  Warner  and  David 
Dutton.  Their  children  were  Anna,  born  December  32,  17S6, 
Eli,  born  June  35,  1799,  Henry,  James,  Silas  Burnham,  Sarah 
Warner,  Huldah,  George  and  Lucinda.  Mrs.  Terry  died 
December  1^,  1S39.  Li  November,  1840,  he  married  widow 
Harriet  Peck.  Their  children  were  Stephen,  born  in  1S41,  and 
Edwin,  born  in  1S43.  He  first  located  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  town.  A  few  years  after  he  sold  out  his  business  to  Silas 
Hoadley  and  Seth  Thomas  and  the  place  took  the  name  of 
Hoadleyville.  He  then  built  a  house  with  a  shop  in  the  rear  on 
Plymouth  Hill  near  the  center.  He  built  the  two  houses  in 
Terryville  just  west  of  the  church  in  1S3S  and  1839,  and  moved 
into  the  one  nearest  the  church  where  he  remained  until  his 
death. 

Mr.  Terry  learned  the  art  of  clock  and  watch  making  and 
the  art  of  engraving  on  metal  of  Daniel  Burnap,  in  the  city  of 
Hartford  ;  he  also  received  instruction  from  Thomas  Harland,  a  "a 
noted  clock  and  watch  maker,  a  resident  of  Norwich,  and  a 
native  of  London.  When  he  settled  in  Plymouth,  he  engaged 
in  the  business  of  repairing  clocks  and  watches,  engraving  on 
metal,  and  selling  spectacles,  spectacles  being  the  only  goods  he 
kept  for  sale.  In  his  early  residence  here  he  did  nothing  at 
clock    making    worthy   of  mention,    but    in    the   year    1S07    he 


220  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

obtained  a  contract  from  a  clock  maker  in  the  neighboring  town 
of  Waterbury  for  making  four  thousand  thirty-hour  wood  clocks 
with  seconds  pendulum,  the  dial  and  hands  included,  at  four 
dollars  ($4)  apiece.  At  this  date  the  manufacturers  of  clocks  in 
this  country  made  the  eight-day  English  brass  clocks  and  thirty- 
hour  wood  clocks,  both  kinds  of  clocks  having  pendulums  beat- 
ing seconds,  or  seconds  pendulums,  as  they  were  called,  with 
three  exceptions.  In  that  part  of  Plymouthj  now  Thomaston, 
there  was  a  manufacturer  of  brass  clocks,  and  also  a  manu- 
facturer of  brass  clocks  at  Salem  Bridge,  now  Naugatuck. 
These  clocks  were  the  English  brass  clocks  with  sixty  teeth  in 
the  escapement  wheel  instead  of  thirty,  to  adapt  them  to  a  half 
seconds  pendulum,  the  cord  passing  upward  and  over  a  pulley 
on  the  inside  of  the  top  of  the  case  and  attached  to  the  weight, 
the  weight  moving  the  whole  length  of  the  inside  of  the  case. 
These  were  the  substantial  differences.  The  plates  for  the 
frames  of  these  clocks  and  the  blanks  for  the  wheels  and  other 
parts  were  cast  metal,  and  the  pinions  were  of  cast  steel,  the 
same  as  in  the  English  clocks.  The  length  of  cases  required  for 
half  seconds  clocks  bears  about  the  same  ratio  to  the  length  of 
the  cases  for  clocks  with  seconds  pendulums  that  the  length  of 
the  pendulums  bear  to  each  other.  These  clocks  were  popularly 
called  "shelf  clocks,"  and  were  thus  distinguished  from  clocks 
with  seconds  pendulums,  the  cases  of  which  stood  on  the  floor. 
AtRoxbury,  near  Boston,  a  timepiece  was  made  called  Willard's 
timepiece.  This  timepiece  consisted  of  the  time  train  of  the 
English  brass  clock,  with  the  omission  of  one  leaf  in  the  pinion 
on  the  escapement  wheel  arbor,  the  escapement  w^heel  having  an 
additional  number  of  teeth,  and  was  thus  adapted  to  a  pendulum 
shorter  than  the  seconds  and  longer  than  the  half  seconds  pendu- 
lums. This  brass  timepiece  and  the  half  seconds  brass  clock 
before  mentioned  were  excellent  timepieces.  Such  was  the 
state  of  the  clock  makers'  art  in  our  country  so  far  as  relates  to 
clocks  for  general  use  in  the  year  1807.  To  complete  the  con- 
tract mentioned,  Mr.  Terry  was  allowed  three  years.  During 
the  time  he  conceived  the  idea  of  making  a  thirty-hour  wood 
clock  with  half  seconds  pendulum  for  general  use,  which  would 
be  much  less  expensive  than  the  half  seconds  clock  of  cast  brass. 
His  first  eflbrt  in  this  direction  was  unsatisfactory,  the  clock  was 
substantially  the  movement  of  the  thirty-hour  wood  clock  with  a 
seconds  pendulum,  the  escapement  wheel  having  sixty  teeth 
instead  of  thirty  to  adapt  it  to  a  short  half  seconds  pendulum. 
The  cord  passed  upward  and  over  a  pulley  on  the  inside  of  the 
top  of  the  case  and  down  around  a  pulley  attached  to  the  weight 
and  back  to  the  top  of  the  case,  where  it  was  fastened.  The 
front  plate  of  the  frame  was  an  open  plate,  and  the  clock  had  no 
dial,  but  the  figures  to  indicate  the  time  were  painted  on  the 
glass  in  the  sash  of  the  case.  This  clock  did  not  suit  Mr.  Terry's 
aspirations,  though  he  made  and  sold  several  hundred  of  them, 
and  other  manufacturers  made  and  sold  more  than  he  did. 

In  the  year  1814,  he  perfected  a  thirty-hour  wood  clock,  of  a 
construction  entirely  new,  both  the  time  and  striking  trains  hav- 


CLOCK     MAKERS.  221 

ing  a  greater  number  of  wheels,  and  the  clock  being  so  radically 
ditlerent  that  it  was  really  a  new  manufacture.  Aside  from  the 
ingenuity  as  shown  in  the  general  construction  of  this  clock, 
there  icere  two  notable  inventions :  the  one  consisted  in  arranging 
the  dial  works  between  the  plates  of  the  Irame,  instead  of 
between  the  front  plate  and  the  dial,  and  the  other  consisted  in 
mounting  the  verge  on  a  steel  pin  inserted  in  one  end  of  a  short 
arm,  a  screw  passing  through  the  other  end  and  into  the  front 
plate.  In  wood  clocks  the  pin  was  inserted  in  a  button  midway 
between  the  center  and  the  periphery.  By  turning  the  button  or 
arm,  the  verge  was  adjusted  to  the  escapement  wheel.  In  the 
manufacture  of  this  newly  constructed  thirty -hour  wood  clock 
the  numerous  manufacturers  of  clocks  at  once  engaged,  and  it 
became  a  very  extensive  industry,  Mr.  Terry  making  a  very 
small  fraction  of  the  number  made  and  sold.  It  superseded  the  i 
half  second  clock  made  of  cast  brass,  and  tJiat  indnstry  perished. 
This  clock  supplied  the  American  market  and  export  demand 
for  clocks  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

In  the  progress  of  the  arts  in  our  country,  sheet  metal  began    ) 
to  be  manufactured,  and  rolled  brass  became  an  article  of  com- 
merce.    With  a  supply  of  this  article  in  the  market,  sheet  metal 
clocks  began  to  be  made.     These  sheet  metal  clocks  with  wire  ^ 

pinions  were  much  less  expensive  than  wood  clocks,  and  super-  ' 

seded  the  manufacture  of  wood  clocks  as  the  manufacture  of 
wood  clocks  had  superseded  the  manufacture  of  clocks  of  cast 
brass.  The  two  inventions  before  mentioned  were  adapted  to  «-' 
brass  clocks,  as  well  as  to  wood  clocks  and  to  sheet  metal  clocks, 
as  well  as  to  clocks  made  of  cast  metal,  and  one  or  both  are 
found  in  nearly  every  clock  made  in  our  country,  and  also  in 
clocks  made  in  other  countries.  It  is  worthy  of  mention  at  this 
point  that  all  of  the  several  kinds  of  clocks  before  mentioned 
were  made  to  gauges,  or  so  that  the  parts  were  interchangeable. 
The  making  of  parts  of  a  machine  so  that  one  part  may  be 
changed  for  a  like  part  in  another  machine  was  an  American  in- 
vention. To  whom  the  credit  of  the  invention  belongs  the  writer 
regrets  he  is  unable  to  state,  but  it  was  practiced  in  the  clock 
makers'  art  as  early  as  the  year  1807;  But  Mr.  Terry  did  not 
confine  himself  to  making  low-priced  clocks  for  general  use. 
He  made  brass  clocks  of  fine  quality,  and  sold  them  to   watch  ' 

makers  for  regulators,  the  price  ranging  from  one  to  two  hundred 
dollars,  and  also  tower  clocks.  His  tower  clocks  w'ere  novel, 
and  consisted  of  three  parts,  a  time  part,  a  part  to  move  the 
hands,  and  the  striking  part.  By  this  construction  the  time  part 
was  not  affected  by  the  action  of  the  wind  and  weather  on  the 
hands ;  the  time  part  could  also  be  placed  in  any  part  of  the 
building  desired,  with  a  dial  and  handle  attached  and  connected 
to  the  parts  in  the  tower  bv  a  wire. 

The  tower  clock  which  he  made  for  the  city  of  New  Haven 
deserves  special  notice.  The  city  at  this  time  (1826)  had  no 
building  suitable  for  a  tower  clock,  and  the  clock  was  placed  in 
Center  Church  on  the  "Green."  This  clock  had  the  usual  dial 
work,  the  hands  connected  wnth  it  showing  mean  time  on  a  dial, 


222 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


C^e  ?anitris  states  of  auicnca. 

To  -.M  ti>  whom  thcfe  Letters  Patent  fcall'comc  : 


E  rio7Cn  nf  tfat  Star  M 


J^-iie  «  d  1.    ii    true  in  CI  ui  cr  -ill 

Rum      H.        uv  n 

/^<     ./ 


th    tuii  jiid  ixtiuti\-»  ijtht  c^J  iiijcrt    of  nukm^f 


J,        ncm     !      jQjJ  mo  iht  T/cofun-  «1'  tW 

theiamc  .rndjnrk  ted    pcutxm  lo  titc  Socretaryn'f 

vri  the  WJ  unp  ijv  niit,    iwi  ^dvu^  tKiit 

Rf     o  gra  -torduig  to  Uw,  to  tlte  i^ 

uuf         5      rlfgjfn-thtf  lean  d  lourtrrti 

njj    oGni,    and      ndu  g    c  o  jtcrs  Lo  be  ufcd,  dwJ 


r^' 


tnajj  PiiUi:,  .;V/^  StG 


\ 


»1>  tOe  ptfSBenf, 


1  !«  HtRtBV  cEiinj-r,  T 


.a- 


Copy  of  Patent  Granted  Eli  Terry. 

Being  the  first  Patent  issued  on  Timepieces  in  this  country,  and  one  of  the 

earliest  issued  by  the  United  States,  in  possession  of  his  grandson, 

James   Terry.      It  is  on   parchment   and  has  the  original 

signatures    of    the    President,    Secretary-    of 

State    and    Attorney-General. 


CLOCK     MAKERS.  223 

and  an  extra  train  or  dial  works  whereby  the  hands  connected 
with  it  showed  apparent  time  on  an  extra  dial.  This  clock 
showing  both  mean  and  apparent  time  was  not  liked  by  the 
citizens,  who  were  accustomed  to  apparent  time,  which  was 
everywhere  kept  except  in  two  or  three  of  our  principal  cities, 
sun-dials  being  common  and  every  house  having  its  own  mark. 
The  extra  dial  work,  dial  and  hands  for  showing  apparent  time 
were  removed,  and  the  man  in  charge  was  instructed  by 
Mr.  Terry  to  set  the  clock  to  mean  time,  for  he  was  determined 
that  the  clock  should  show  mean  time,  and  he  still  owned  it  and 
could  do  as  he  pleased,  the  city  not  having  accepted  it,  In  a 
tower  on  one  of  the  buildings  of  Yale  College  there  was  a  public 
clock  "  witli  an  apparatus  attached  to  it,  which  produced  a  daily 
variation  from  true  time  equal  to  the  variation  of  the  sun,"  caus- 
ing the  clock  to  show  apparent  time.  These  two  public  clocks 
not  a  block  apart,  one  showing  apparent  time  and  the  other 
mean  time,  occasioned  a  spirited  controversy  in  the  public  press 
as  to  what  was  true  time,  or  the  proper  time  to  be  kept,  in  which 
there  was  a  mixture  of  ridicule  and  learning.  Those  curious  to 
read  the  controversy  are  referred  to  the  files  of  the  city  papers 
of  that  day,  to  be  found  in  the  library  of  the  institution  mentioned. 
The  communication  signed  "  A  Citizen  of  the  United  States" 
was  w^ritten  by  Mr.  Terry,  and  shows  that  he  was  master  of  the 
whole  subject.  At  this  day  it  seems  strange  that  there  should 
have  been  such  a  controversy,  that  learned  men  and  others 
should  have  advocated  the  keeping  of  apparent  time,  and  that  in 
the  year  iSii,  on  a  signal  from  the  observatory  of  the  College, 
a  heavy  gun  on  the  public  square  was  fired  at  noon  to  give  the 
people  the  exact  time  to  make  their  noon  marks.  Many  resi- 
dents of  the  city  and  graduates  of  the  College  in  all  parts  of  our 
country  well  remember  these  two  old  public  clocks,  which  for 
many  years  chimed  out  their  discordant  notes.  Some  confusion 
has  arisen  from  the  failure  of  writers  on  the  art  to  distinguish 
between  clocks  of  cast  brass  and  sheet  metal  clocks.  The  mak- 
ing of  clocks  of  cast  brass,  the  making  of  sheet  metal  clocks,  and 
the  making  of  wood  clocks,  so  far  as  the  mechanical  part  is  con- 
cerned, are  three  distinct  arts — are  three  distinct  industries. 
Eli  Terry  died  in  Plvmouth,  in  the  post  village  of  Terryville, 
called  alter  his  oldest  son,  Eli  Terry,  Jr.,  February  24,  18^2, 
falling  short  of  the  age  of  three  score  and  ten,  one  month  and 
eighteen  days. 

ELI    TERRY,    JR. 

Eli  Terry,  Jr.,  was  born  in  Plymouth,  June  25.  1799.  At  an 
early  age  he  commenced  clock  making  with  his  father  and  after- 
ward said  he  owed  his  success  in  life  to  him.  He  married 
vSamantha  McKee,  of  Bristol,  September  6,  1821.  Their  chil- 
dren were  James,  born  July  5,  1823  ;  Andrew,  born  December 
19,  1824  ;  Eunice,  born  October  28,  1827  ;  Willis,  born  August  22. 
1S30;  Willard,  born  March  22,  1S32;  Fallah,  born  November 
5,  1S33;   Lucinda,  born  October  28,  1836;   Eli,  born  September 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Profile  Portrait  of  Mrs.  Eli  Terry.    \A    N 


CLOCK    MAKERS.  225 

8,  1840.  They  commenced  lunisekecpiiig  just  below  Plymouth 
Hollow  (now  Thomaston)  where  James  and  Andrew  were  born. 
In  1S35  they  moved  to  Terryville  where  Mr.  Terry  had  com- 
menced building  a  house,  also  two  shops  for  the  manufacture  of 
clocks.  This  place  was  selected  because  of  the  water  privilege. 
The  house  is  a  little  above  and  opposite  what  is  called  the  upper 
shop  in  Terryville,  and  the  shops  occupied  the  same  ground  of 
the  above  named  shop.  The  house  he  occupied  while  building 
stood  near  and  was  afterwards  bought  by  Elizur  Fenn,  moved  to 
the  hill  west,  re-fitted  and  is  still  occupied  by  him.  There  is  but 
one  other  house  standing  now  in  the  village  that  was  in  existence 
when  he  went  there,  viz.,  the  Andrew  Fenn  place. 

The  clock  business  was  a  success  from  the  first,  the  market 
being  mostly  in  the  south,  Mr.  Terry  sometimes  going  himself 
as  far  as  southern  Pennsylvania  and  Kentucky  to  sell  them. 
This  was  before  the  day  of  railroads  and  Mrs.  Merrill  Richardson, 
his  daughter,  remembers  seeing  at  one  time  several  (she  says 
eight  or  ten,  but  perhaps  her  childish  eyes  magnified  the 
number)  large  two-horse  covered  wagons,  standing  in  a  row 
opposite  the  house,  which  were  filled  with  clocks  to  be  sent 
south.  Twice  she  remembers  men  coming  with  slaves  to  buy 
clocks. 

He  was  founder  of  the  village  of  Terryville,  and  built  many 
of  its  houses  in  its  early  days,  and  it  was  named  for  him.  He 
was  an  active  member  of  the  church  on  Plymouth  Hill  till  1838, 
when  the  church  was  organized  in  Terryville.  In  this  he  was 
very  much  interested,  and  for  its  welfare  had  great  anxietv. 
He  assisted  in  building  the  church  by  generous  contributions,  and 
was  very  liberal  in  its  support.  He  was  a  thorough  business 
man  and  left  a  handsome  property  to  his  children.  He  died  in 
1841,  at  the  age  of  forty-tw^o  years. 

At  the  time  when  Mr.  Terry  founded  his  village,  it  was 
only  a  farming  community,  and  he  was  under  the  necessity  of 
providing  houses  for  himself  and  his  employes.  He  took  great 
interest  in  the  society  he  gathered  around  him  and  was  a  man  of 
large  influence  for  good.  The  methods  of  business  were  very 
difterent  from  those  of  the  present  day.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  there  were  no  railroads  to  the  market,  and  goods  were 
carted  to  rhe  nearest  water  conveyances  and  thence  shipped  to 
the  cities  or  distributed  by  peddlers  to  all  parts  of  the  country. 
Money  was  scarce,  and  a  cash  trade  was  the  exception.  jMany 
clocks  were  exchanged  for  goods  of  every  kind — everything  that 
was  needed  in  such  a  community — hence  the  necessity  that  the 
manufacturers  keep  a  store  of  these  goods  for  distribution. 
Sometimes,  if  shrewd,  he  made  two  profits,  but  perhaps  quite  as 
often  the  skillful  manufacturer  failed  to  be  qualified  for  a  mer- 
chant, and  made  a  loss  instead  of  a  profit.  The  peddlers  sold  at 
high  prices  to  parties  who  would  buy  and  give  their  notes  in 
payment,  and  these  notes  often  proved  worthless.  The  system 
of  barter  too,  extended  to  the  pay  of  the  workingmen,  and  at  the 
settlement  at  the  end  of  the  year  for  which  each  one  was  hired, 
he  received  a  note  for  balance  due. 


226 


mS'JORV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Home  of  Eli  Terry,  Jr. 


Eli  Terrv,  k1. 


CLOCK      MAKERS.  227 

There  were  serious  drawbacks  to  business  of  every  kind  at 
that  time.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  some  favorable  cir- 
cumstances for  Mr.  Terry.  The  demand  for  clocks  was  larger, 
only  limited  by  the  means  of  the  people  who  wanted  them. 
They  were  almost  an  article  of  necessity,  but  the  extreme  high 
price  at  which  they  had  necessarily  been  held  in  the  market, 
forbade  their  use  to  those  whose  means  were  moderate,  but  by 
the  introduction  of  machinery  in  place  of  hand  labor,  and 
especially  by  the  invention  of  the  shelf  clock,  which  had  been 
introduced  by  the  elder  Terry,  in  1S14,  they  were  placed  within 
the  reach  of  a  large  class  of  people  of  more  moderate  means. 
Moreover,  by  this  same  reduction  in  cost,  the  manufacture  was 
placed  beyond  the  reach  of  competition,  while  protected  by  letters 
patent,  it  was  too  early  to  be  aflected  by  competitors  at  home. 

The  clock  business  was  sold  to  Hiram  Welton  &  Co.,  who 
continued  it  to  1845,  when  upon  the  failure  of  the  company, 
caused  in  part  by  the  failure  of  a  party  for  wdiom  they  had 
underwritten,  the  business  was  closed  out. 

The  factory,  however,  did  not  remain  idle  long  for  it  was 
immediately  utilized  for  the  manufacture  of  locks.  The  build- 
ing, though  abandoned  for  manufacturing  purposes,  is  still 
standing,  and  has  the  old  fashioned  water  wheel  in  it  that  was 
built  by  Air.  Terry  to  supersede  hand  power. 

IIENRV   TERRY. 

Henry  Terry  was  the  second  son  of  Eli  Terry,  born  in  Ply- 
mouth, November  12,  iSoi.  October  16,  1823,  he  married 
Emily  Blakeslee,  daughter  of  Ransom  Blakeslee,  of  the  same 
town,  by  whom  he  had  eight  children,  three  of  whom  died  in 
infancy.  A  daughter,  Julia,  was  married  in  1856,  to  Rev. 
Charles  Harding,  with  whom  she  went  to  Sholapoor,  India,  as 
a  missionary,  and  died  there,  leaving  three  daughters,  two  of 
whom,  Julia  Harding  and  Mrs.  Emily  Mabon  are  living  in  New 
York  City,  and  one,  Mrs.  Ruby  E.  Fairbank,  is  a  missionarv  in 
India,  near  where  her  mother  is  buried.     She  has  three  children. 

Mr.  Terry's  living  children  are  Mrs.  Adeline  Terry  Bartlett, 
of  Ansonia,  Conn.,  who  had  two  sons,  both  of  whom  are  dead; 
Mrs.  Anna  Scoville  Wilson,  of  Independence,  Iowa,  who  has 
two  daughters  and  one  granddaughter ;  Henry  K.  Terry,  born 
in  1S39;  married  in  1S59  to  Kate  Hoyt  (who  died  in  1869),  by 
whom  he  had  three  children,  two  daughters  now  living,  Gertrude 
and  Nelly.  Gertrude  married  Albert  W.  Arnold  and  has  four 
children.  His  present  wife  was  Florentine  B.  Arnold  (married 
in  1873),  and  they  have  three  children,  Henrv  K.  Terrv,  Jr., 
born  October  25,  1874,  and  two  daughters.  Pearl  and  Leslie. 
Henry  K.  Terry,  Sr.,  is  vice-president  and  general  manager  of 
The  Powhatan  Clav  Mfg.  Co.,  of  Richmond,  Va. 

The  voungest  child  of  Mr.  Terrv  is  Dwight  H.  Terry, 
born  in  1841,  who  married  Martha  J.  Durand  in  1S62,  and  is  a 
broker  and  dealer  in  investment  securities  at  Bridgeport,  Conn. 

Henry  Terry,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  difrd  at  Waterburv, 


228 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Heni\'  Terrv. 


Henrv  K.  Terrw 


CLOCK      MAKERS. 


229 


Conn.,  January  7,  1S77,  and  Tlw  Watcrluiry  American  in  an 
obituary  notice,  after  stating  from  whom  he  descended  and 
giving  other  facts  which  are  included  above,  said  substantially 
as  follows  : 

"  He  had  resided  in  Waterbury  but  a  few  years  ;  but  he  was 
so  well  known  throughout  this  region,  and  occupied  so  promi- 
nent a  position  in  his  earlier  life  in  a  neighboring  town,  that  his 
decease  calls  for  more  than  a  passing  notice."  It  continues; 
"  From  his  boyhood,  Mr  Terry  was  familiar  with  clock  making, 
acquiring  his  knowledge  of  the  business  under  the  tuition  of  his 
lather.  He  would  i:)robably  have  devoted  his  life  to  it,  as  other 
members  of  the  family  have  done,  were  it  not  for  the  rapid 
increase  which  took  place  about  forty  years  ago  in  the  number 
of  manufacturers,  the  consequent  competition,  the  great  reduc- 
tion in  the  price  of  clocks,  and  the  interminable  credit  it  was 
then  customary  to  give."  In  a  review  of  Dr.  Alcott's  History  of 
Clock  Making,  contributed  to  the  columns  of  TJie  Avtcrican^ 
June  10,  1S53,  Mr.  Terry,  referring  to  this  epoch,  says: 

"The  writer  was  one  of  this  number,  who  had  until  then 
very  little  acquaintance  with  any  other  business,  having  been  a 
witness  to  all  the  improvements  in  clocks  and  the  machinery  for 
making  the  same,  from  the  time  the  shelf-clock  was  first  intro- 
duced, in  the  year  1S14,  to  the  period  in  question,  or  the  year 
1S36." 

At  about  the  time  last  mentioned,  Mr.  Terry  abandoned 
clock  making,  and  began  the  manufacture  of  woolen  cloths,  just 
below  the  village  of  Thomaston.  This  business  he  continued 
with  considerable  success  up  to  and  through  the  period  of  our 
civil  war.  About  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1864,  he  made  the 
mistake  of  holding  on  to  a  large  stock  of  goods  for  better  prices, 
which  declined  steadily,  and  wiien  the  goods  were  finally  sold, 
the  loss  absorbed  all  previous  gains.  After  closing  up  his  busi- 
ness in  Thomaston,  about  the  year  1S6S,  he  removed  to  Water- 
bury. 

One  of  the  pleasant  incidents  of  his  life  in  Waterbury  was 
the  celebration  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Terry's  golden  wedding,  on 
the  evening  of  October  16,  1S73.  At  that  time,  it  was  stated  that 
of  a  hundred  and  fifty  friends  who  were  present  at  their 
marriage,  only  a  score  remained,  and  that  of  all  the  married 
couples  present  then,  there  remained  but  one  unbroken  by  death. 

Mr.  Terry's  remains  were  taken  to  Plymouth  for  interment. 
Rev.  Joseph  Anderson,  in  a  brief  analysis  of  the  character  of  the 
deceased,  spoke  of  him  as  a  man  in  whom  mind  predominated 
over  feeling;  as  possessing  an  intellect  strong,  sharp,  and 
matter-of-fact ;  as  an  unskillful  speaker,  but  a  fluent  and  pointed 
writer  ;  as  fond  of  historical  and  scientific  research  ;  as  faithful 
to  his  convictions,  but  independent  and  liberal,  and  uncommonly 
frank  in  expressing  his  own  views  ;  never  in  bondage  to  tradi- 
tional beliefs,  never  hesitating  to  run  athwart  the  sentiments  and 
opinions  of  others,  whether  in  a  political  discussion  or  in  a 
prayer  meeting.  He  had  a  genuine  hatred  of  pretence  and  mere 
sentiment,   and  a  desire   that   the  truth    should   be   proclaimed. 


2^0 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Henr\    K   Terrv,  Jr 


Dwis;lit  H.  TfiiN 


CLOCK    MAKERS.  23I 

He  possessed  wide  knowledge — the  lesiilt  of  minute  research  in 
various  fields  ;  but  in  two  departments  he  might  almost  be  con- 
sidered an  authority — the  hist  )ry  of  clock  making,  the  industry 
to  which  he  had  devoted  so  large  a  part  of  his  life,  and  the  doc- 
trines and  practices  of  Congregationalism.  There  was  no  man 
in  Waterbury,  there  were  few  in  Connecticut,  who  knew  more 
of  the  Congfreofational  faith  and  order  than  he. 


SILAS    BLJRNHAM   TEHKY. 

Silas  Burnham  Terry  was  born  in  Plymouth,  February  i,  1S07. 
He  was  married  in  the  year  1^32,  to  Maria  Upson,  of  VVolcott. 
She  died  in  the  year  1S63,  leaving  live  children,  namely:  Caro- 
line, who  married  E  S.  Beach;  Silas  B.,  Solon  M.,  Cornelius 
E.  and  Simeon  G.  In  the  year  1S66  he  was  married  to  Lydia 
Ann  Wiard,  widow  of  the  late  Norman  Sinith  of  Plymouth. 
In  1S31  he  erected  a  shop  for  the  manufacture  of  clocks  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Pequabuck  and  Poland  rivers  in  Terryville, 
which  is  still  standing. 

He  was  less  a  managing  man  than  his  brother,  but  a  man  of 
unusual  and  varied  intelligence,  a  superior  mechanic,  ingenious, 
and  surpassed  by  no  one  in  his  knowledge  of  the  mechanism  of 
a  clock.      His  brother  Henry  says  of  him,  in  an  obituary  notice     ~) 
published  by  the  Waterbury  A)iicriiaii  of  May  30,  1S76: 

"After  prosecuting  the  business  many  years,  and  making, 
for  the  most  part,  costlv  clocks,  struggling  through  the  financial 
troubles  of  1837  and  1839,  when  most  men  not  firmly  established 
in  business  and  capital  were  broken  down,  he,  too,  became  a 
sufierer,  yet  struggled  on  until  he  found  no  way  of  emancipation 
from  the  burden  of  debt  fastened  upon  him,  but  to  relinquish  a 
business  not  only  not  remunerative,  but  to  him  disastrous.  He  ^ 
had,  however,  during  these  years  of  business  adversity,  intro- 
duced new  machinery,  from  which  others  derived  more  benefit 
than  himself,  and  had  introduced  newly  arranged  clocks,  which 
have  since  proved  the  best  in  the  market.  The  clock  known  as 
the  Seth  Thomas  regulator.  No.  i  and  2,  is  one.  It  is  a  perfect 
timekeeper,  and  Is  as  reliable,  even  for  astronomical  purposes,  as 
the  more  showy  clocks,  costing  ten  times  as  much.  The  same 
clock  is  also  made  at  Winsted,  and  bv  the  Waterbury  Clock 
Company.  He  also  made  a  new  gravitv  escapement  regulator, 
of  which  we  propose  to  speak  farther  on."  After  speaking  of  the 
three-legged  gravity  escapement  invented  by  E.  B.  Dennison, 
LL.  D.,  and  described  in  a  treatise  written  by  him,  he  claims 
that,  though  different  in  several  respects,  the  one  invented  by  his 
brother  antedates  the  former,  and  savs  : 

"This  regulator,  when  put  in  its  present  locality,  was  kept 
running  four  years  steadilv,  during  which  time  Its  rate  of  run- 
ning was  very  perfect,  recjulring  the  use  of  observatory  instru- 
ments to  ascertain  the  variation  at  the  end  of  four  years.  The 
perfecting  of  this  gravitv  escapement  we  therefore  claim  as  an 
American  invention.     It  has  been  running  five  years  longer  than 


232 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Silas  Hoadley. 


Samuel  Camp, 


CLOCK    MAKERS.  233 

the  Westminster  clock,  (lescril)ed  in  the  treatise  referred  to,  and 
may  be  seen  at  the  late  residence  of  the  deceased  in  this  city. 

"About  iS^z  he  invented  the  torsion  balance  clock,  so 
called.  It  was  designed  for  a  cheap  clock.  The  movement  was 
carried  by  a  spring,  as  in  other  marine  clocks,  but  the  balance 
was  a  flattened  wire  stretched  from  top  to  bottom  of  the  clock, 
to  which  was  attached  a  horizontal  rod  or  wire  with  a  small  ball 
at  each  end,  which  by  their  vibrations  served  to  regulate  the 
motion  of  the  clock  and  took  the  place  of  the  hair  spring.  A  joint 
stock  company  was  formed  for  the  manufacture  of  this  clock,  . 
and  a  new  factory  was  built  a  short  distance  below  the  depot, 
utilizing  the  dam  built  by  Eli  Terry,  Sr.,  in  the  later  years  of  his 
life,  after  he  had  retired  from  business.  The  directors  of  this 
company  were  James  Terry,  William  E.  McKee,  Theodore 
Terry  and  S.  B.  Terry.  The  former  was  president  and  financial 
manager,  and  the  latter  superintendent.  The  clock  did  not 
prove  a  success;  as  a  consequence  the  company  relinquished  the 
business." 

Mr.  Terry,  however,  always  insisted  that  the  difficulties 
were  not  insuperable,  and  in  the  later  years  of  his  life,  when 
doing  business  for  himself,  contemplated  taking  it  up  again  and 
perfecting  it.  Many  will  remember  the  clock,  and  the  beauty 
and  delicacy  of  its  movement. 

Mr.  Terry  was  afterwards  in  the  employ  of  William  L.  Gil 
bert,  at  Winsted,  and  of  the  Waterbury  Clock  Company,  and 
then,  with  his  sons,   organized  the   Terry  Clock   Company,   in 
which  he  was  engaged  until  near  the  time  of  his  death,  in  ^Vlay, 
1876. 

ELI    TERRY,    3d. 

Eli  Terry  (3d),  the  youngest  son  of  Eli  Terry  (2d)  was  born 
in  Plymouth  in  1S41,  and  is  now  a  resident  of  Minneapolis, 
Minn.  About  the  year  1862  he  commenced  the  manufacture  of 
clock  springs  in  the  shop  built  by  Silas  B.  Terry  at  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Pequabuck  and  Poland  rivers.  Mr.  Terry  put  in 
practice  a  new  way  of  tempering,  hardening  and  coiling  the 
springs,  and  the  business  was  reasonably  successful,  but  an 
advantageous  offer  being  made  by  the  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Com- 
pany, it  was  taken  up  and  the  manufacture  went  to  Thomaston. 
The  shop  was  later  used  by  the  Inv-estors'  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany of  Boston  for  the  manufacture  of  shears,  but  the  venture 
did  not  prove  a  success. 

Since  Mr.  Terry  adopted  his  process,  another  of  hardening 
and  tempering  the  springs  under  tension,  and  polishing  and 
bluing  before  coiling,  has  been  introduced  and  is  in  general  use. 

SAMUEL  CAMP. 

Samuel  Camp  was  a  captain  in  the  revolutionary  war,  was 
well  acquainted  with  General  Washington  and  the  Alarquis  de 
Lafayette,  and  rendered  efhcient  services  in  the  cause  of  his 
country  at  Crown  Point,  Ticonderoga  and  Staten  Island.     Four 


234 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Hiram  Camp. 


Seth  Thomas. 


CI,OCK      MAKERS. 


235 


of  Samuel  Camp's  brothers,  Jolin,  Benajali,  Jol)  and  Ephraim, 
also  served  in  the  patriot  armies.  John  Camp  became  a  Con- 
greu^atioiial  minister.  Samuel  Camp,  after  tlie  war,  settled  in 
Plvmoutli  antl  was  a  deacon  in  the  Congregational  Church  there. 
He  died  at  the  age  (jf  eighty. 

The  homestead  now  passed  into  the  hands  of  Samuel 
Camp,  Jr.  He  mairied  Jeannette  Jerome,  sister  of  Chauncey 
Jeromt,  and  remained  on  tlie  farm  in  Plymouth  until  1S29,  when 
he  moved  to  Plainville,  Conn.,  where  he  spent  a  long  life  of 
usefulness.  He  was  a  great  student  of  the  Bible  and  had  com- 
mitted not  less  than  half  its  contents  to  memory.  He  died  in 
Plainville  in  1S76  in  his  ninetieth  year. 

Hiram  Camp,  the  son  ot  Samuel  Camp,  Jr.,  and  Jeannette 
Jerome,  was  born  in  Plymouth,  April  9,  181 1.  Having  a  taste 
for  mechanical  pursuits,  rather  than  the  monotonous  life  on  a 
farm  he  left  home  when  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  went  to 
Bristol  to  work  at  clock  manufacturing  with  his  uncle,  Chauncey 
Jerome.      At    that    time    (1S29)    the    clock    business    was    in    its 


The  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Works. 


infancy.  Since  then  great  improvements  have  been  made,  to 
which  Mr.  Camp  largely  contributed,  having  proved  himself  an 
inventor  as  well  as  manufacturer.  In  184^  Air.  Camp  removed 
to  New  Haven,  where  he  still  pursued  the  clock  business,  being 
president  of  the  Clock  Company  for  about  fortv  years. 

His  time  and  thoughts  were  not  all  devoted  in  the  one  line, 
he  having  held  several  public  offices,  such  as  a  member  of  com- 
mon council,  selectman  of  town,  chief  engineer  of  fire  depart- 
partment,  and  a  member  of  state  legislature.  The  last  dozen 
vears  or  more  of  his  life  he  was  greatlv  interested  in  Mt.  Hermon's 
School  for  Boys  at  Northfield.  He  was  an  active  member  of  the 
Churchof  the  Redeemer,  and  one  of  its  oldest  deacons.  He  died  in 
New  Haven  July  8,  1893,  aged  eighty-two  years.  He  was  the 
last  of  the  old  manufacturers  that  went  from  Plymouth  to  estab- 
lish large  clock  shops  in  other  places. 


236  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

SETH    THOMAS. 

Seth  Thomas  was  the  son  of  James  and  Martha  Thomas, 
and  was  born  in  Wolcott,  Conn.,  August  19,  17S5.  His  advan- 
tages of  education  were  very  meager,  consisting  of  a  short  at- 
tendance upon  a  distant  public  school.  He  served  an  appren- 
ticeship to  the  trade  of  carpenter  and  joiner,  and  spent  some 
time  on  the  construction  of  Long  Wharf  in  New  Haven.  Leav- 
ing at  his  majority  with  a  small  kit  of  tools  and  a  very  small  sum 
of  money,  he  associated  with  Eli  Terry  and  Silas  Hoadley  imder 
the  firm  name  of  Terr}^,  Thomas  &  Hoadley,  in  the  southeastern 
part  of  the  town  of  Plymouth,  now  known  as  Hancock  Station 
on  the  New  England  railroad,  and  commenced  the  manufactine 
of  clocks. 

In  iSio  Mr,  Terry  sold  his  interest,  and  the  firm  continued 
two  years  as  Thomas  &  Hoadley.  He  then  sold  his  interest  to 
Mr.  Hoadley  and  came  to  the  western  part  of  the  town,  then 
known  as  Plymouth  Hollow,  and  purchased  the  site  where  the 
case  shop  is  now  located,  and  began  the  manufacture  of  clocks 
on  his  own  account. 

He  was  twice  married,  first  to  Philena  Tuttle,  April  20, 
iSoS.  She  died  March  13,  1810.  He  was  married  second  to 
Laura  Andrews,  daughter  of  William  and  Submit  Andrews, 
April  14,  iSii,who  survived  him.  She  died  Julv  I3,  1S71. 
He  was  the  father  of  nine  children,  three  of  whom,  and  all  then 
living,  died  in  September,  1815,  in  the  year  memorable  as  the 
one  of  the  dysentery  scourge. 

The  clock  business  from  small  beginnings  increased  rapidly, 
and  he  afterwards  built  a  cotton  mill  and  a  brass  rolling  and  wire 
mill.  Politjcallv  he  was  a  Whig.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Congregational  Church,  and  contributed  largelv  to  the  building 
of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Plymouth  Hollow 

In  18^3,  feeling  the  infirmities  of  years  coming  upon  him, 
in  order  to  avoid  the  stoppage  of  his  works  consequent  upon  his 
death,  he  organized  the  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Companv  under  the 
joint  stock  laws  of  Connecticut.  He  died  Januarv  29,  18^9. 
After  his  death,  by  act  of  the  Legislature,  the  town  of  Plvmouth 
was  divided,  and  the  western  portion  was  made  into  a  new  town 
and  named  Thomaston  in  his  honor. 

Six  of  his  children  who  survived  him  were:  Seth,  Jr., 
Martha,  who  married  Dr.  William  Woodruff";  Amanda,  who 
married  Thomas  J.  Bradstreet ;  Edward,  Elizabeth,  who  mar- 
ried George  W.  Gilbert,  and  Aaron.  At  this  time,  January, 
1895,  the  only  ones  living  are  Elizabeth  and  Aaron. 

SILAS    HOADLEY. 

Hon.  Silas  Hoadley  was  born  January  31,  1786,  in  Beth- 
any, Conn.,  died  December  28,  1870,  in  Plymouth.  He  was 
married  to  Sarah,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Lucina  Painter,  born 
October  22,  1789,  in  Plvmouth,  who  died  ISIarch  i,  1864.  Mr. 
Hoadley  spent  his  boyhood  in  his  native  place.  His  school  ad- 
vantages were  very  limited,  for  at  an  early  age  he  was  appren- 


CLOCK      MAKERS.  237 

ticed  to  Calvin  Hoadley  to  learn  the  carpenter's  trade,  which 
he  lollovved  till  1809.  He  then  associated  himself  with  Eli 
Terry  and  Seth  Thomas  for  the  manufactuie  of  wood  clocks  at  a 
small  settlement  then  called  Ireland,  afterwards  termetl  Iloadley- 
ville,  in  the  southern  part  of  Plymouth.  The  village  is  now 
called  Greystone.  In  iSio  Mr.  Terry  sold  out  to  Hoadley  and 
Thomas,  who  carried  on  the  business  till  18 14,  when  Mr. 
Thomas  sold  his  interest  to  Mr.  Hoadley  and  set  up  the  manu- 
facture of  wood  clocks  in  Plymouth  Hollow,  now  Thomaston. 
Mr.  Hoadley  continued  the  business  till  about  1849,  when  he 
rented  the  shops  for  the  making  of  knives  and  shears  till  his 
death  in  1870.  B}'  his  own  efforts  he  had  amassed  a  good  pro- 
perty by  which  his  family  and  the  public  were  helped.  In  a  mild 
way  Mr.  Hoadley  held  to  his  opinion  with  tenacity,  but  had  the 
highest  respect  tor  other  people's,  and  was  genial  and  couiteous 
to  every  one.  He  took  an  active  interest  in  the  affairs  of  State, 
town  and  church.  In  politics  he  was  a  Democrat  of  the  Jackson 
stripe,  and  was  repeatedly  honored  by  his  townsmen,  being 
elected  to  the  General  Assembly  in  the  years  1S33,  1837  and 
1S53,  and  to  the  State  Senate  in  1844,  positions  which  he  most 
faithfully  and  honorably  discharged  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  con- 
stituents and  friends.  In  the  legislative  halls  of  his  state,  his 
happy  way  of  illustrating  his  ideas  always  commanded  respect 
and  attention.  In  religion  Mr.  Hoadley  was  an  Episcopalian 
and  a  regular  attendant  at  St.  Peter's  Church,  of  which  he  was 
a  vestryman,  and  which  was  benefited  by  his  counsel  and  con- 
tributions and  generously  remembered  in  his  will.  At  the  con- 
vention of  the  diocese  he  was  frequently  a  delegate,  took  an 
active  part  and  was  listened  to  with  interest. 

Mr.  Hoadley  was  a  Free  Alason  of  high  standing  and  one  of 
the  most  respected  and  oldest  members  of  Harmon}'  Lodge,  No. 
42,  F.  and  A.  M.,  having  been  intimately  associated  with  the 
order  for  more  than  half  a  century,  uniting  with  the  old  Federal 
Lodge  in  Watertown  in  181 7.  His  lodge  bears  testimony  that 
"his  heart  was  in  the  right  place,  with  a  hand  as  open  as  the 
dav  to  meeting  charitv-  Of  him  it  mav  be  truly  said  '  an  honest 
man  is  the  noblest  work  of  God.'" 

His  children  were  Milo,  born  July  2^,  1S09,  married  Sarah 
E.  Scoville  ;  George  Thompson,  born  vSeptember  22,  181 1,  mai'- 
ried  Eunice  Tomlinson  ;  Luther  Hopkins,  born  July  29,  1813, 
married  first,  Jane  E.  Welton,  second,  Ellen  Nicholson  ;  Sarah 
Jane,  born  June  22,  1817,  married  September,  1832,  Hon.  Henry 
A.  Mitchell,  of  Bristol  ;  Mary  Ann,  born  May  4,  18 14,  married 
first,  September  3,  1836,  George  B.  Seymour,  Washington, 
Conn.,  second,    June  17,  George  Tomlinson,  of  Plymouth. 

CHAUNCEY  JEROME. 

Chauncey  Jerome  commenced  his  career  in  clock  mading  in 
Plymouth  in  the  year  1818.  He  was  by  trade  a  joiner,  and  one 
of  the  buildings  now  standing  erected  by  him  is  the  one  the  post 
office  in  Terrvville  is  located  in.     He  begfan  the  clock  business 


238  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

by  purchasing  the  movements  without  cases  and  fitting  up  cases 
for  them.  He  afterwards  moved  to  Bristol  and  carried  on  the 
clockmaking  business  there,  where  he  commenced  the  making 
of  brass  clocks  with  cheap  wire  pinion.  In  the  year  1844  he 
commenced  the  making  of  clocks  in  New  Haven,  and  there 
prosecuted  the  business  successfully  for  several  years,  exporting 
a  large  part  of  his  production  to  European  countries.  The  cor- 
poration known  as  the  New  Haven  Clock  Company  had  its 
origin  in  the  business  first  commenced  by  Mr.  Jerome.  By  mis- 
placed confidence  in  other  men,  and  by  a  disregard  of  rules  of 
safety  in  pecuniary  transactions  he  was  suddenly  bereft  of  his 
estate,  which  occurred  too  late  in  life  for  him  to  recover  or  to 
succeed  in  any  vmdertaking  afterward. 

HIRAM  AND  HEMAN  WELTOX. 

Hiram  and  Heman  Welton  were  two  other  prominent  clock 
makers  in  the  history  of  Plymouth.  They  bought  out  Eli  Terry, 
Jr.,  and  occupied  for  several  years  what  is  now  called  the  "  up- 
per "  lock  shop.  At  the  time  their  business  was  the  most  promi- 
nent in  Terryville,  and  many  of  the  men  who  subsequently 
became  lock  makers  were  brought  to  the  village  by  the  VVeltons. 
When  they  failed  their  shop  was  immediately  utilized  for  the 
manufacture  of  locks.  Hiram  Welton  lived  and  died  in  Terrv- 
ville,  and  both  he  and  his  brother  Heman,  together  with  their 
families,  were  identified  for  manv  vears  with  its  growth. 

In  the  same  building  Albert  Welton  manufactured  knobs. 
He  built  the  house  in  the  rear  of  the  old  Mix  homestead,  which 
he  occupied.  He  also  was  prominent  in  the  growth  of  Terry- 
ville. 

EARLY    CLOCK    MAKING. 

Henry  Terrv,  in  1S73,  published  a  small  pamphlet  on  Ameri- 
can Clock  Making,  from  which  is  quoted  the  following: 

"■  Little  is  known  concerning  the  making  of  clocks  in  this 
country  anterior  to  the  period  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, 1776.  There  were  indeed  a  few  clock  makers  in  New 
England  and  elsewhere  before  this  time.  Verv  few  American 
clocks,  however,  can  be  found  made  before  this,  and  those  are 
brass  clocks  having  a  pendulum  forty  inches  in  length  and 
vibrating  in  one  second  of  time  and  adapted  to  a  long  case  stand- 
ing on  the  floor  with  a  dial  six  feet  from  the  floor. 

"  It  is  not  known  that  any  wooden  clocks  were  made  before 
this  time,  and  very  few,  if  any,  anterior  to  the  year  1792.  The 
brass  clocks  made  at  this  early  period  were  all  similar  to  the 
English  brass  clocks,  and  evidently  made  b)'  men  of  skill  in  this 
department  of  labor.  The  clocks  are  still  to  be  found.  The 
workmanship  of  these  American  clocks  is  not  inferior  to  those 
imported.  An  American  clock  was  made  in  the  town  of  Rox- 
bury,  Mass.,  bv  Simon  Willard.  A  patent  was  obtained  on  it 
in  the  vear  iSo3.  This  proves  what  we  had  supposed  to  be  the 
truth  before,  that  this  kind  of  clock  was  an  American  production. 


CLOCK     MAKERS.  239 

and  that  the  art  of  making  clocks  in  this  country  at  that  time 
was  quite  in  advance  of  the  arts  touching  other  manulactures. 
These  clocks  have  from  that  time  been  considered  good  time 
keepers.  There  is  evidence  that  good  brass  clocks  were  made 
in  this  country  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  same  kind 
of  brass  clock,  with  much  the  same  style  and  form  of  case,  has 
been  made  ever  since  by  manufacturers  near  Boston  and  else- 
where. The  statement  therefore,  tiiat  has  been  made  in  adver- 
tising circulars  and  other  publications,  that  American  clocks 
were  made  wholly  of  wood  until  a  late  period,  is  not  entitled  to 
credit;  nor  has  the  story  that  '  the  wheels  were  marked  on  the  "< 
wood  with  square  and  compass,  and  then  cut  out  with  a  fine  saw 
and  jack  kniie '  any  better  foundation.  It  is  a  traditional  fabri- 
cation— a  foolish  story.  It  is  wholly  needless  to  give  currency 
to  such  fabulous  stories,  and  stereotype  them  as  part  of  the  early 
history  of  clock  making  in  this  country.  The  clock  makers  of 
that  age,  as  well  as  the  artisans  in  other  departments  of  labor,  ^ 
were  not  such  bunglers  as  some  would  make  them. 

"  As  part  of  this  history,  it  should  here  be  stated,  that  Asa 
Hopkins,  of  the  parish  of  Northfield,  town  of  Litchfield,  Conn., 
obtained  a  patent  about  the  vear  1S13,  on  an  engine  for  cutting 
wheels.  This  invention  was  for  the  introduction  and  use  of 
three  mandrels,  by  which  one  row  of  teeth,  on  a  numl)er  of 
wheels,  was  furnished  bv  one  operation  of  the  engine,  a  machine 
still  in  use,  but  superceded  at  the  time  by  a  new  construction  of 
an  engine  w^ith  only  one  mandrel.  Air.  Hopkins,  whose  factory 
was  four  miles  or  more  north  of  Thomaston,  profitted  little  by 
that  patent.  He  had  ^w  superiors  as  to  mechanical  skill,  how- 
ever, and  really  did  more  in  the  way  of  improvements  in  machin- 
ery'', than  others  whose  names  have  become  a  trademark  for  the 
prosecution  and  continuance  of  the  business.  We  speak  not  / 
here  against  this  use  of  names.  It  is  right ;  yet,  in  giving  the 
history  of  any  branch  of  industry,  it  is  not  right  to  ignore  the 
skill  and  enterprise  of  men  who  in  the  earlv  struggle  contributed 
so  largely  to  help  along  such  business.'' 


CHAPTER    XI 


LOCK    MAKERS. 


Troubles  Which  Beset  the  Pioneers  of  the  Cabinet  and  Trunk  Lock  Business 
That  Was  Established  in  America  by  Terryville  Men  of  Indomitable  Will 
and  Pluck— Sketches  and  Portraits  oi  All— E.  L.  Gaylord,  the  Only  Survivor, 
Lives  in  Bridgeport. 

TO  Stephen  G.  Bucknall  should  be  given  the  credit  of  makhig 
the  first  cabinet  locks  in  this  country.  He  was  an  Knglish- 
man,  and  had  learned  the  machinest  and  locksmith  trade  before 
coming  to  this  country  in  1S32.  He  brought  with  him  a  few 
crude  tools,  and  in  compnny  with  a  man  of  limited  means  he 
began  the  manufacture  of  locks  in  Watertown,  Conn.  Being 
unable  to  continue  business  because  of  the  lack  of  funds  the  firm 
sold  out  to  Eli  Terry,  Jr.,  who  moved  the  machinery  and  stock 
to  Tert'yville,  Mr.  Bucknall  being  hired  to  continue  making  pat- 
terns by  Mr.  Terry,  and  moved  into  the  house  opposite  the 
"upper"  shop,  where  he  resided  until  he  removed,  about  1S40, 
and  worked  for  Russell  &  Erwin  in  New  Britain  several  years. 
Mr.  Terry,  soon  after  purching,  sold  the  business  to  Lewis,  Mc- 
Kee  &  Co.,  a  company  organized  for  this  purpose,  and  composed 
of  Eli  Terry,  3d,  John  C.  Lewis  and  William  McKee,  who  had 
previously  been  engaged  in  the  clock  business. 

This  company  was,  of  course,  entirely  without  experience, 
and  had  everything  to  learn.  The  managers  found  themselves 
ignorant  of  the  nature  of  their  materials  and  the  best  manner  of 
working  them  ;  and  the  thousand  and  one  little  matters  of  prac- 
tice, that  seem  simple  enough  now,  were  the  fruits  of  long, 
laborious  and  often  unsuccessful  trial. 

Their  workmen  were,  with  one  exception,  wholly  unac- 
quainted with  the  business,  and  he  knew  only  the  old  English 
ways,  and  the  tools  they  made  and  used  were  bungling  and  ill- 
adapted  to  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  intended.  Their 
machinery  was  rude  in  form  and  inconvenient  in  practice.  For 
years  after  they  commenced  they  had  no  engine  lathe,  and  such  a 
thing  was  scarcely  known  in  all  the  manufactories  of  the  state. 
y  For  a  long  time  they  used  only  hand  presses,  cutting  out  the 
heavy  parts  with  immense  labor,  though  they  were  the  first  to 
introduce  the  power  press,  now  universally  used  in  manufactur- 


LOCK     MAKERS.  24! 

ing  every  variety  of  hardware.  Tliey  imported  some  of  their 
lock-plates  already  bent  up,  for  tlie  significant  reason  that  they 
could  import  them  cheaper  than  they  could  the  raw  stock.  The 
work  produced,  of  course,  partook  somewhat  of  the  nature  of 
their  machinery  and  lacked  finish.  Knowing  nothing  of  the  de- 
mands of  the  trade,  they  made  many  goods  not  at  all  adapted  to 
the  wants  of  the  country. 

Thus  equipped  they  made  their  appearance  in  a  market 
stuffed  with  English  goods.  Here  they  met  with  a  decided 
rebuff.  It  is  difficult  at  this  day  to  conceive  of  the  inveterate 
prejudice  which  existed  against  American  manufactures  at  that 
time.  Hardware  men  would  scarcely  look  at  an  American  lock, 
and  the^  man  who  offered  them  felt  called  upon  to  make  a  hasty 
retreat,  fearing  "  extra  inducements."  The  idea  that  Americans 
could  compete  successfully  with  the  English  in  the  manufacture 
of  locks  was  generally  scouted  by  dealers.  A  few  commission 
houses  were  willing  to  take  them,  and  work  them  oft' one  by  one, 
but  the  sales  were  very  slow.  The  consequence  of  this,  as  the 
reader  will  readily  forseee,  was  that  the  company's  resources 
were  locked  up  in  piles  of  unsalable  goods,  and  bankruptcy 
stared  them  in  the  face  Such  was  the  position  of  aftairs  in 
1841,  when  Eli  Terry,  2d,  the  president  of  the  company,  died. 
In  the  settlement  of  his  estate,  the  concern  was  bought  by  Lewis 
&  Gaylord.  The  new  company  progressed  slowly,  adding  new 
and  improved  machinery,  introducing  styles  of  locks  better 
suited  to  the  trade,  and  putting  their  price  where  it  would  meet 
the  English  competition.  In  1849  Mr.  Lewis  died,  and  the 
Lewis  Lock  Company  was  formed,  the  stock  being  taken  prin- 
cipally by  his  heirs  and  the  surviving  partner. 

In  the  meantime,  Bucknall,  McKee  &  Co.  had  started  the 
first  manufactory  of  trunk  locks  in  this  country.  They  availed 
themselves  of  the  experience  gained  in  making  cabinet  locks, 
but  failed  to  make  the  business  pay.  About  1840,  they  sold  out 
to  Warren  Goodwin,  who  removed  to  VVolcottville,  where  he 
was  soon  after  burned  out,  and  afterwards  returned  to  Terryville. 
Meanwhile  Williams,  McKee  &  Co.  had  commenced  the  busi- 
ness anew  at  Terryville,  where  they  continued  until  1S46,  and 
then  sold  out  to  James  Terr}-  &  Co.  Each  of  these  companies 
met  with  the  same  difficulties  in  the  shop  and  in  the  market  that 
were  encountered  by  Lewis,  McKee  &  Co.,  and  they  were  barely 
able  to  pay  their  debts  and  made  no  dividends.  James  Terry  & 
Co.  added  to  their  business  the  manufacture  of  carpet  bag  frames 
which  was  conducted  principallv  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  they  also 
made  a  few  cabinet  locks.  In  1854  the  two  companies,  James 
Terry  &  Co.,  and  what  was  the  Lewis  &  Gaylord  Co.,  consoli- 
dated and  became  what  is  now  the  Eagle  Lock  Company.  James 
Terry  was  made  president  of  the  new  company,  and  under  his 
able  management  dividends  as  high  as  18^  per  cent,  were  paid 
and  the  stock  was  sold  up  to  $8  for  $1.  The  stock  is  quoted 
now  at  sixty-seven  (par  $25),  and  dividends  have  declined  to 
twelve  per  cent.,  due  to  severe  competition,  which  the  company 
was  unable  to  check    alter  spending    hundreds  of  thousands  of 


242 


HISTORY    OP"    PLYMOUTH. 


Stephen  G.  Buckiiall 


LOCK     MAKERS.  243 

dollars  to  buy  out  competing  concerns,  notably  W.  &  E,  T. 
Fitch  of  New  Haven,  Crouch  &  Fitzgerald  of  New  York,  Gay- 
lord  Lock  Company,  Gaylord,  Mix  &  Company,  Western  Lock 
Company,  Eccentric  Lock  Company,  American  Lock  Company, 
Bridgeport  Lock  Company,  Walsh  of  Newark,  and  others. 

The  company  had  its  early  financial  trials,  but  owing  to  the 
integrity  of  its  president,  James  Terry,  was  enabled  to  pull 
through,  when  other  concerns  were  obliged  to  go  out  of  business. 
This  was  true  particularly  in  the  years  1S57  and  1S58,  when 
there  was  a  panic  following  the  failure  of  the  Ohio  Life  and 
Trust  Company,  when  the  wheels  of  trade  were  completely 
blocked.  This  naturally  gave  Mr.  Terry  no  little  anxiety,  but 
he  had  the  confidence  of  the  community  and  of  the  banks,  and 
weathered  the  panic  with  very  little  loss  to  the  company.  The 
men  were  allowed  to  continue  their  work  on  short  time,  trusting 
to  the  future  for  their  pay,  and  they  were  not  disappointed,  and 
the  company  were  able  in  a  few  months  to  sell  advantageously 
the  goods  that  would  not  have  been  made  except  for  the  benefit 
of  the  laboring  men.  Mr.  Terry's  supervision  extended  to  every 
detail  of  the  business,  and  nothing  escaped  his  eye.  In  his 
caution  he  attempted  nothing  that  he  could  not  reasonably  anti- 
cipate the  means  of  carrying  out.  In  those  early  days  business 
was  done  largely  on  credit,  very  few  concerns  having  the  capital 
to  invest  in  uncertain  speculations,  or  even  to  follow  their  legiti- 
mate business  to  its  best  results.  Unlike  man\',  he  preferred  to 
defer  even  desirable  improvements  till  thev  could  be  undertaken 
with  reasonable  safety. 

HON.    J.    C.    LEWIS. 

Hon.  John  Calhoun  Lewis  was  born  at  Cornwall,  Conn.,  in 
the  year  iSoo.  He  was  a  grandson  of  Nehemiah  Lewis,  who 
serv^ed  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  who  settled  the  town  of 
Goshen,  a  direct  descendant  of  Captain  William  Lewis,  the  first 
registrar  in  Farmington,  who  came  from  England  with  his 
father,  William  Lewis,  in  the  ship  Lion  in  1632.  John  Calhoun 
Lewis  was  the  eldest  of  a  family  of  five  brothers,  all  of  whom 
became  conspicuous  citizens  of  the  state.  His  father  was  for 
years  postmaster  at  Cornwall,  while  John  and  Philo  were  each 
in  turn  postmaster  at  Terryville.  One  brother,  Miles,  was  for 
twenty-three  years  a  highly  esteemed  captain  of  the  New  Haven 
Steamboat  Company,  and  another,  Henry  Gould,  was  nine  times 
elected  mayor  of  the  citv  of  New  Haven.  About  1835  J^hn 
Calhoun  removed  from  Cornwall  to  Terryville,  and  for  a  time 
was  engaged  in  the  dry  goods  business  with  his  brother  Philo. 
He  afterwards  became  interested  in  the  lock  business,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  Lewis,  McKee  &  Co.  Upon  the  death  of 
Mr.  Terry,  in  1841,  a  new  firm  was  formed,  called  the  Lewis  & 
Gaylord  Company,  and  under  their  management  the  manufacture 
of  cabinet  locks  in  this  country  first  became  prominent.  In  1S49 
occurred  the  death  of  Mr.  Lewis.  The  surviving  partner  carried 
on  the  business  until  iS^i.  at  which  time  the  Lewis  Lock  Com- 
pany was  formed,  tlie  stock  being  taken  by  Sereno  Gaylord,  the 


244 


HISTOUV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


John  C.  Lewis. 


Sereno  Ga\k)rd. 


LOCK     MAKEHS. 


245 


heirs  of  Mr,  Lewis  and  a  few  others.  Mr.  Lewis  was  for  years 
a  trial  justice,  and  as  a  citizen  was  always  an  earnest  supporter 
of  movements  promising  to  be  for  the  best  interest  of  the  com- 
munity. In  politics  he  was  a  prominent  al^olitionist,  and  at  the 
time  of  his  death  was  a  member  of  the  legislature,  occupying  the 
position  of  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  He  was 
an  upright,  conscientious  man,  firm  in  his  convictions  for  right, 
and  noticeable  for  his  strong  Cliristian  principles.  In  fact,  he 
would  not  have  a  man  in  his  emplov  that  did  not  attend 
his  own  church.  He  married,  Jnly  4,  1844,  for  his  second  wife, 
Mary  Warner,  relict  of  David  C  Lord,  a  most  estimable  woman, 
who  was  known  for  her  good  works.  She  was  a  descendant  of 
Captain  John  Warner,  who  fought  in  the  Revolutionarv  war. 
For  years  Long  Hill,  from  Thomaston  to  Plymouth  Center,  was 
known  as  the  "Captain  John  Warner  Hill."  Mr.  Lewis  died  in 
the  prime  of  life,  leaving  a  widow  and  children  to  mourn  his 
loss. 

"•He  lived  esteemed,  beloved  and  respected. 
He  died  regretted,  honored  and  lamented." 

The  children  who  survive  him  by  his  first  wife  (Ann  Hop- 
kins of  Cornwall)  are  :  Ellen  Paige,  who  resides  in  Rockford, 
111.,  and  John  Calhoun  of  Austin,  Tex.,  connected  with  the 
traffic  management.  By  his  second  wife  (Marv  Warner),  Mary 
A.,  wife  of  General  George  H.  Ford  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  and 
Thomas  Clarkson,  for  many  years  a  prominent  merchant  in  New 
Haven,  Conn.,  and  for  the  past  few  years  a  resident  of  Chicago. 

SERENO    GAYLORD. 

Sereno  Gaylord,  who  removed  to  Chicopee,  Mass.,  was 
born  in  South  Hadley,  ]Mass.,  in  1S12.  He  came  to  Terry ville 
in  1S34,  and  was  employed  by  Lewis,  McKee  &  Co.  Stephen 
G.  Bucknall  was  at  that  time  superintendent,  but  being  unable 
to  keep  up  with  the  progress  of  American  ways,  was  superceded 
by  Mr.  Gaylord,  who  took  charge  and  immediately  adopted 
machinery  to  do  what  heretofore  had  been  done  by  hand.  This 
enabled  the  company  to  enter  into  active  competition  with  foreign 
manufacturers  and  to  hold  the  market  against  all  odds.  In  1S41 
Air.  Gaylord,  with  John  C.  Lewis,  formed  a  company  known  as 
the  Lewis  &  Gaylord  Company,  which  bought  out  Lewis,  AIc- 
Kee  &  Co.  Eli  Terry,  president  of  the  latter  company,  having 
died,  it  was  necessary  to  sell  to  settle  his  estate.  The  new  com- 
pany, however,  did  not  buy  the  finished  goods,  but  only  the  tools 
and  machinery,  and  it  was  agreed  that  no  locks  should  be  made 
like  those  the  old  comcern  had  on  hand  until  after  they  had  been 
disposed  of.  The  business  of  the  new  company  was  a  success 
from  the  start,  and  it  was  carried  on  until  Mr.  Lewis'  death, 
seven  years  later,  when  the  Lewis  Lock  Company  was  formed, 
the  stock  being  taken  by  the  Lewis  family  and  Air.  Gavlord,  the 
surviving  partner.  This  continued  until  the  company  was  con- 
solidated with  the  James  Terry  Compan}-,  under  the  name  of  the 


246 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


William  t    McKee 


Mntlier  of  William  E.  McKee. 


LOCK     MAKERS.  247 

Eagle  Lock  Company.  Mr.  Ga\  loid  in  1863  went  to  Chicopee? 
where  he  started  tlie  Gaylord  Lock  Company,  which  soon  entered 
into  active  comperition  with  the  Eagle  Lock  Company  in  the 
manufacture  of  locks.  Mr.  Gaylord's  company  was  such  a  suc- 
cess that  overtures  were  made  by  the  Eagle  Lock  Company  to 
pool  issues,  which  Mr.  Gaylord  finally  consented  to,  and  the 
two  concerns  were  lun  under  this  agreement  until  the  Chicopee 
shop  was  sold  out.  Mr.  Gaylord  was  a  representative  from 
Plymouth  in  the  legislature  and  was  always  interested  in  town 
affairs  as  long  as  he  resided  there. 

WILLIAM    E.   m'kEE. 

William  E.  McKee,  who  was  a  manufacturer  of  both  clocks 
and  locks  in  Terryville,  was  born  in  Bristol,  January  2,  1S06, 
and  died  in  New  Haven,  July  26,  1S75.  He  was  interested  in 
all  of  the  earlv  lock  companies,  and  much  of  the  foimer  success 
of  the  Eagle  Lock  Company  is  due  to  his  sagacity  and  experi- 
ence. His  daughter,  Emeline,  married  Joseph  H.  Adams,  who 
was  president  of  the  Eagle  Lock  Company  for  three  years.  Mr. 
McKee  could  not  have  been  greatly  encouraged  when  he  first 
ventured  in  the  lock  business,  for  it  was  far  from  smooth  sailing 
for  many  years,  but  his  faith  never  relaxed  and  he  was  finally- 
rewarded  bv  being  able  to  dispose  of  his  stock  at  an  enormous 
advance  and  pocket  the  princelv  dividend  of  18=5  per  cent. 

JAMES    TERRY. 

James  Terry,  son  of  Eli  Terrv,  Jr.,  was  born  at  Terry's 
Mills,  one  mile  south  of  Thomaston,  July  5,  1823.  The  death 
of  his  father  in  1841  placed  upon  his  young  shoulders  the  cares 
and  responsibilities  of  a  large  estate,  he  being  then  but  eighteen 
years  of  age,  and  the  extraordinary  talents  and  lorce  of  character 
which  he  exhibited  through  his  after  business  life  were  shown 
to  a  marked  degree  at  this  time. 

In  1841  he  commenced  the  manufacture  of  sewing  silk,  the 
factory  being  situated  on  the  side  hill  southeast  of  the  homestead 
and  directly  west  of  the  Philip  Rvan  place.  Previous  to  this 
the  introduction  of  a  new  plant,  the  Perottet  Mulberry,  or 
Moms  Miilticaiilis^  from  its  great  productiveness  and  rapid  in- 
crease in  numbers,  had  aroused  public  interest  to  a  high  degree 
and  stimulated  the  development  of  silk  culture  and  manufacture. 
He  built  his  own  machinerv  and  commenced  to  wind  and  twist 
the  fibre  by  power  machinerv.  This  was  a  new  process  and  a 
difficult  one,  having  for  the  first  time  been  in  operation  in  Con- 
necticut onl}'  two  or  three  vears  previous,  all  methods  in  the 
old  country  being  the  hand  process.  He  continued  the  silk  busi- 
ness for  three  vears,  and  then  closed  it  up  and  purchased  the 
lock  business  of  Lewis,  McKee  &  Co.,  which  was  at  a  very  lo^v 
ebb,  and  commenced  the  manufacture  of  locks  under  the  title  of 
James  Terry  &  Co  ,  his  uncle,  William  E.  McKee  being  asso- 
ciated with   him    in  the   business.     This  he  continued   until  the 


248 


iiiS'iOKV  OF  pi.vMOL  ru. 


James.  Terrv. 


.4 


James  rerry'>  Cmtage. 


LOCK     MAKERS.  249 

formation  of  the  Eagle  Lock  Company,  of  which  he  was  the 
chief  promoter  and  its  prcsitlent,  until  his  retirement  from  busi- 
ness life  in  1S66. 

He  was  a  man  of  the  hig^hest  integrity  of  character,  of  great 
sagacity  and  practical  knowledge  of  the  business  in  all  its 
branches  and  details.  And  the  success  of  the  lock  business, 
which  has  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  remunerative  industries 
in  the  country,  is  due  pre-eminently  to  him. 

Mr.  Terry  was  twice  married,  first  to  Elizabeth  Hollister  of 
Glastonbury,  by  whom  he  had  four  children,  James,  Mary  E., 
Clinton,  and  one  who  died  in  infancy,  all  ot  whom  were  born 
in  Terryville.  Mrs.  Terry  died  in  1S53,  and  he  married  for  his 
second  wife  Valeria,  daughter  of  William  Treat,  October  20, 
1S53.  By  this  union  three  children  were  born,  Lerria  F.,  who 
died  at  the  age  of  eleven  years,  Nellie,  who  married  Dwight 
W.  Hunter,  and  died  in  1S94,  and  an  infant. 

EDWARD    I..    GAYLORD. 

In  1S47  there  came  to  Terryville  from  Bristol  a  young  man 
who  was  full  of  enterprise  antl  inventive  genius.  He  went  to 
work  for  James  Terry  &  Co.,  and  when  asked  how  much  pay 
he  wanted  he  replied,  "Oh  give  me  what  vou  have  a  mind  to." 
Starting  in  at  fifty  cents  per  dav,  and  never  asking  for  an  increase, 
his  salary  was  voluntarily  advanced  until  he  received  $5,000  per 
year.  This  young  man  was  Edward  L.  Gaylord.  now  the  only 
surviving  member  of  the  original  stockholders  of  the  Eagle  Lock 
Company. 

Mr.  Gaylord  was  born  in  1827.  His  parents  were  Ransom 
and  Parmela  Alcott  Gaylord,  well  known  residents  of  Bristol, 
his  mother  being  a  sister  of  A.  Bronson  Alcott,  who,  though 
well  known  in  the  literary  world,  perhaps  is  more  readily  re- 
called as  the  father  of  Louisa  Alcott,  both  of  whom  are  subjects 
of  sketches  elsewhere.  Mr.  Gaylord  when  four  years  old  re- 
moved with  his  parents  to  central  New  York,  riding  from  Albany 
to  vSchenectady  on  the  first  passenger  railroad  operated  in  this 
country.  Here  he  learned  cabinet  making.  At  the  age  of  nine- 
teen he  returned  and  went  to  work  at  clock  making  for  Kirk  & 
Todd  in  Wolcott,  in  that  section  known  as  Woodtick.  This  was 
where  the  first  marine  movement  was  made  ;  another  original 
novelty  being  a  musical  clock  playing  seven  tunes. 

Dropping  this  Mr.  Gaylord  started  in  at  the  lock  trade  at 
Terryville.  This  he  followed  until  1S50,  when  he  was  sent  to 
Newark,  N.  J.,  by  James  Terry  &  Co.  to  make  the  iron  frames 
for  carpet  bags  from  patterns  and  designs  of  his  own.  The  de- 
velopment of  the  many  railroads  had  made  a  large  demand  for 
traveling  valises.  This  business  was  very  successful,  and  the 
money  coming  to  Terryville  made  the  lock  business  of  James 
Terry  &  Co.  seem  more  prosperous  than  it  actually  was, 
especially  as  the  carpet  bag  frame  venture  was  kept  very  quiet. 
This  had  its  bearing  in  another  wav.  At  this  time  Gaylord  & 
Lewis  were  making  cabinet  locks,  and  James  Terrv  &  Co.  trunk 


350 


IlISTOKV    OF    PL'SMOUTH. 


E.  L.  Ga\iord. 


Josepli  H.  AJam< 


LOCK     MAKERS.  25 1 

locks,  but  as  the  latter  now  started  in  making  cabinet  locks  also, 
and  were  apparently  making  money,  the  former  company  made 
propositions  to  consolidate,  and  what  is  now  the  Eagle  Lock 
Company  was  the  subsequent  outcome. 

It  was  decided  to  accept  a  liberal  otler  for  the  Newark  ven- 
ture, and  Mr.  Gaylord  was  brought  back  to  take  charge  of  what 
was  then  known  as  the  lower  lock  shop.  Then  followed  many 
new  designs  in  locks  and  labor  saving  devices  in  their  manufac- 
ture, the  product  of  Mr.  Gaylord's  fertile  brain,  the  most  promi- 
nent being  the  device  for  squaring  lockplates  and  machine  for 
drilling  keys,  the  latter  turning  out  12,000  keys  a  day  and  run- 
ning fifteen  years  without  any  repairs.  During  Mr.  Gaylord's 
superintendency  he  took  out  some  eighty  patents,  all  of  which 
were  turned  over  to  the  Eagle  Lock  Company  without  compen- 
sation, and  were  practicable  inventions. 

In  1S70  Messrs.  James  and  F.  W.  Mi.x  obtained  a  contract 
from  the  government  for  furnishing  padlocks  for  the  United 
States  mail,  and  having  been  offered  an  opportunity  to  form  a  co- 
partnership with  them  for  their  manufacture,  Mr.  Gaylord 
accepted  and  a  company  under  the  firm  name  of  Gaylord,  Mix  & 
Co.  was  formed  to  make  the  locks.  The  first  lot  was  turned  out 
in  the  old  shop  at  Pequabuck,  afterward  burned,  and  as  the  busi- 
ness grew  it  was  transferred  to  Bridgeport.  New  designs  in 
cabinet  locks  were  added  and  the  firm  received  large  orders  from 
the  leading  sewing  machine  companies.  This  made  the  concern 
competitors  of  the  Eeagle  Lock  Company,  which  opened  nego- 
tiations and  bought  it  out.  Mr.  Gaylord  returned  to  Terryville 
and  again  became  president  and  superintendent  of  the  Lock 
Company.  He  resigned  after  one  year's  service,  sold  his  inter- 
est (receiving,  it  is  said,  $8  for  $i  par  value),  and  since  has  re- 
sided in  Bridgeport.  He  has  not  been  inactive,  as  numerous  in- 
ventions can  testify,  tiie  latest  being  a  cigar-holder  which  is 
designed  to  save  what  the  ordinary  holder  cannot  utilize. 

Mr.  Gaylord  for  several  years  owned  the  leading  art  store  in 
Bridgeport,  and  becoming  deeply  interested  in  the  study  of  ait 
he  spent  considerable  time  in  Europe  making  himself  thorougly 
acquainted  with  it.  He  now  spends  his  days  chiefly  in  a  little 
workshop  in  the  rear  of  his  residence  which  is  fitted  up  with 
power  and  machinery,  continuing  in  his  old  age  the  life  of  inven- 
tion that  he  has  so  long  lived. 

He  recently  put  up  a  large  building,  which  is  now  run 
as  a  hotel,  being  known  as  the  "  Gaillard,"  the  spelling  being 
changed  to  conform  to  the  original  name  that  "  Gaylord"  was 
derived  from. 

]\Ir.  Gaylord  in  1S51  married  Mary  R.  Minor  of  Terryville, 
to  whom  were  born  two  children.  Anna  May,  now  Mrs.  F.  S. 
Stevens  of  Bridgeport,  and  Jesse  D.,  who  lives  at  home. 

JOSEPH    H.    ADAMS. 

From  the  store  in  Terryville,  built  by  Eli  Terry,  have  gone 
forth  some  of  the  brightest  voung  men,  men  who  were  later  in 
life  destined  to  make  their  mark  in  the  world.     One   graduate 


352 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUIH. 


Ansel  Gavlord. 


Deacon  R.  D.  H.  Allen. 


LOCK      MAKKKS.  253 

was  a  youth  of  seventeen  who  came  to  Teiryville  in  1S50  from 
Litchfield.  After  a  short  apprenticeship  in  the  store  he  was 
hired  bv  Lewis  &  Gaylord  to  keep  their  bool<s,  and  from  this 
humble  position  he  gradually  arose  from  one  position  to  another 
until  he  succeeded  James  Terry,  when  his  health  failed,  as  presi- 
dent of  the  Eagle  Lock  Company.  This  was  Joseph  H.  Adams, 
born  in  Litchfield,  August  19,  1833.  He  died  suddenly  at  Cham- 
plain,  111.,  May  17,  1S70,  while  on  a  business  trip — cut  down  in 
the  very  prime  of  life.  He  married  Emeline,  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam E.  McKee.  Mrs.  Adams  now  resides  in  Brooklyn,  and 
with  her  are  her  son  and  daughter. 

The  lock  business  had  been  so  well  managed  by  Mr.  Terry 
that  Mr.  Adams  by  continuing  the  same  policy  during  his  admin- 
istration was  enabled  to  pav  dividends  that  amounted  some  years 
to  seven  times  more  than  the  face  of  the  stock. 

ANSEL    GAYLORD. 

Ansel  Gaylord  was  born  in  South  Hadley,  INLass.,  Feb.  22, 
1S24.  ^^llen  sixteen  years  of  age  he  was  apprenticed  to  Henry 
Fuller,  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  to  learn  the  tailor's  trade  and  re- 
mained with  him  until  he  came  to  Terryville  in  1847,  where  he 
followed  his  trade  lor  several  years.  Later  he  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Eagle  Lock  Company,  and  was  one  of  the  first 
directors  of  the  company.  At  the  time  of  his  death  (October, 
i860,)  he  was  in  charge  of  the  packing  and  shipping  department. 
He  was  a  brother  of  vSereno  and  Emerson  Gaylord,  of  Chicopee 
Mass. 

In  1853  he  married  Catharine  Stoughton,  daughter  of  deacon 
Andrew  vStoughton,  of  Plymouth,  by  whom  he  had  two  children, 
Andrew  S.  who  still  resides  in  Terryville,  and  Katie  A.  who 
died  in  October,  1875,  in  her  fifteenth  year. 

ROLLIN    D.    H.    ALLEN. 

Rollin  D.  H.  Allen  was  born  in  Middlebury,  Vt.,  January 
ID,  1821,  and  was  graduated  from  the  college  in  his  native  town. 
He  taught  school  in  the  old  academy  in  Cromwell,  then  known 
as  Upper  Middletown,  and  studied  theology  in  Andover  and 
New  Haven.  He  entered  the  ministr\'  of  the  Congregational 
Church,  but  on  account  of  poor  health  was  obliged  to  abandon 
his  chosen  profession.  He  then  resumed  the  work  oi'  a  teacher 
in  New  York  state.  His  only  sister  married  Rev.  Merrill  Rich- 
ardson, pastor  of  the  Terryville  Congregational  Church,  and  Mr. 
Allen  came  to  Terryville  in  1850,  and  after  teaching  school  for  a 
time  became  bookkeeper  and  confidential  secretary  in  the  office 
of  James  Terry  &  Co.  At  the  organization  of  the  Eagle  Lock 
Company  in  1854,  Mr.  Allen  was  one  of  the  incorporators  and 
the  first  treasurer.  In  i860,  with  Andrew  Terry  and  O.  D. 
Hunter,  the  foundry  concern  of  Andrew  Terry  &  Co.  was 
formed  and  the  financial  management  was  intrusted  to  Mr.  Allen, 
who  was   secretary  and   treasurer  of  this  corporation   for   fifteen 


254 


HISTORY    OF    ri.VMOUIH. 


Warren  Goodwin. 


James  Mix. 


LOCK     MAKERS 


-:>:> 


years.  In  187^  he  again  entered  the  Eagle  Lock  Company  as 
president  and  rinancial  manager,  and  remained  a  director  of  that 
concern  until  his  death,  leaving  only  two  surviving  members  of 
the  Eagle  Lock  Company's  Inst  board  of  directors. 

He  was  also  a  director  of  the  corporation  of  A.  Terry  &  Co. 
and  the  Bristol  National  Bank,  besides  trustee  of  the  Bristol  Sav- 
ings Bank,  and  the  estate  of  James  Terry,  and  a  large  stock- 
holder in  manufacturing  enterprises  in  the  state.  The  last  six- 
teen years  of  his  life  he  was  not  engaged  in  active  business,  but 
had  given  much  attention  to  the  development  of  a  fine  farm,  of 
which  his  youngest  son  is  the  active  manager.  For  more  than 
fortv  years  Mr.  Allen  had  been  a  respected  resident  of  the  town 
which  he  represented  in  the  legislatures  of  1S54  ^'^"^^  1S7S. 

Mr.  Allen  gave  generously,  though  quietly,  to  the  poor  and 
distressed,  and  was  a  true  Cliristian  gentleman.  He  was  a  great 
student  and  lover  of  nature,  and  after  retiring  from  business  in 
1S77  mainly  led  a  student's  life  among  his  books. 

Mr.  Allen  was  married  August  S,  1849,  to  Miss  Mary  Eliza- 
beth Bushnell  of  Cromwell,  who  survives  him.  He  also  leaves 
three  children — George  M.  Allen  of  Beloit,  Wis.  ;  Charles  L 
Allen  and  Mrs.  Charles  W.  Wolcott,  both  the  latter  residing  in 
Terryville.     An  older  son,  Henry,  died  in  1871. 

He  united  by  letter  with  the  church  in  Terryville  in  185 1 
and  served  as  deacon  for  many  years.  In  1891  he  took  a  letter  to 
the  Congregational  Church  in  Bristol,  of  which  he  was  a  mem- 
ber at  the  time  of  his  death,  December  19,  1893. 

WARREN    GOODWIN. 

Warren  Goodwin  was  born  in  New  Hartford,  Conn.,AIarch 
26,  1808.  At  ten  years  he  was  an  orphan.  He  accompanied  a 
family  by  the  name  of  Steele  to  Ohio  in  the  winter  with  an  ox 
team.     His  early  life  was  attended  with  privation  and  hardship. 

When  he  was  eighteen  he  returned  to  New  Hartford,  Conn., 
accomplishing  the  journey  on  foot  at  the  rate  of  thirty  miles  per 
day.  Remaining  for  a  time  in  New  Hartford  he  came  to  Terry- 
ville, entering  the  employ  of  Eli  Terry,  Jr.  After  a  time  he 
suflered  loss  through  the  failure  of  others,  and  in  order  to  retrieve 
some  portion  of  it  he,  in  company  wnth  Mr.  Brinsmade,  went  to 
Canada  peddling  clocks.  About  1840  he  bought  out  the  trunk 
lock  business  of  Bucknall,  McKee  &  Co.,  carrying  it  on  for  a 
time  in  Terryville,  then  removing  it  to  Cotton  Hollow  (West 
Torrlngton),  where  soon  after  he  was  burned  out.  Rebuilding 
again  he  admitted  to  partnership  Edmund  Wooding.  His  health 
failing  he  sold  out  the  business  to  his  paitner,  after  which  he  was 
appointed  postmaster,  in  the  meantime  engaging  in  the  grocery 
business  and  farming.  In  18^50  he  retined  to  Terryville,  enteiing 
the  employ  of  James  Terry  &  Co.  in  the  lock  business,  where  he 
remained  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  Alarch,  i860.  He 
was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Eagle  Lock  Company.  He 
was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  church  in  Terryville, 
served    as    Sunday-school    superintendent,    and   was    an    earnest 


256 


HISTOKY    OF    FJ.YMOUTH. 


t 
1 

i.  ■' 

4 

i 
1 

^Ki 

J 

Elisha  Mix. 


James  C.  Mix. 


LOCK     MAKERS.  257 

worker,  always  found  at  the  prayer  meeting,  and  deemed  it  a 
privilege  to  l)e  there.  He  was  married  April  i,  1S32,  to  Elvira 
Andrews  jMcKee,  by  whom  he  had  Hve  children,  Willard  Terry, 
Ralph  Cowles,  Harriet  McKee,  Jidia  Elvira,  and  a  daughter  who 
died  in  infancy.  Two  survive  him,  Willard  Terry  and  Julia 
Elvira  (Mrs    Ells).     They  are  residents  of  Terryville. 

WILLARD    T.    GOODWIN. 

Willard  Terry,  the  son  of  Warren  and  Elvira  McKee  Good- 
win, was  born  in  Tenyville,  October  4,  1833.  He  attended 
school  until  he  was  seventeen,  when  he  entered  the  employ  of 
James  Terry  &  Co.  The  two  succeeding  winters  he  spent  at  the 
village  school  ;  the  first  under  the  instruction  of  R.  D.  H.  Allen, 
antl  the  second  under  N.  C.  Boardman.  In  1S54  James  Terry  & 
Co.  and  the  Lewis  &  Gaylord  Co.  consolidated  imder  the  name 
of  the  Eagle  Lock  Company.  Although  receiving  several  invita- 
tions to  positions  of  trust  from  other  firms,  Mr.  Goodwin  has 
remained  with  the  lock  company  for  forty-five  years,  with  the 
exception  of  about  one  year  spent  at  Colt's  Armory  during  the 
war  of  the  rebellion.  In  his  long  service,  which  is  certainly 
worthy  of  note,  he  has,  for  upwards  of  thirty  years,  been  super- 
intendent of  the  die  and  pattern  department.  For  about  this 
same  period  he  has  also  had  charge  of  the  firm's  yearly  inventory. 

Although  his  early  education  was  not  what  could  be  called 
a  liberal  one,  yet,  as  with  many  another  New  England  boy,  it 
has  been  enlarged  and  broadened  by  liberal  reading,  considera- 
ble travel  and  intelligent  intercourse  with  "many  men  of  many 
minds." 

In  1S53  he  married  Amelia  Evans  Fenn.  Thev  have  had  six 
children.  Those  living  are  Willard  Emerson,  manager  of  house 
furnishing  department  for  A.  J.  Muzzy  &  Co.,  Bristol,  Conn.; 
Ella  Antoinette,  wife  of  Edgar  L.  Pond,  of  the  firm  of  A.  Terry 
&  Co.  ;  E.  Clayton,  machinist  for  Eagle  Lock  Company,  also 
justice  of  the  peace  and  agent  for  the  Humane  Society,  and 
Ralph  Cowles,  secretary  of  the  Cambridge,  Mass.,  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

In  politics  Mr.  Goodwin  has  alwavs  been  a  Republican  and 
belongs  to  the  orders  of  Odd  Fellows  and  American  Mechanics. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Terryville  Congregational  Church  ar.d 
was  for  twenty  years  its  clerk. 

JAMES    IMIX. 

James  Mix  was  born  in  West  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  1793.  He 
was  the  son  of  Elisha  Mix  and  Amny  (Webster)  Mix.  His 
father  was  a  soldier  for  about  five  years  in  the  Revolutionary 
army  and  a  descendant  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  colony  of  Hart- 
ford. In  1S14  he  mairied  Miss  Lucy  Steele,  also  of  VVest  Hart- 
ford, a  daughter  of  Allyn  Steele,  a  lineal  descendant  of  John 
Steele  and  Major  William  Bradford.  Major  Bradford  was  one 
of  the  four  principal  men  who  came  over  in  the  oMayflower,  and 
for  nearly  thirty  years  was  Governor  of  the  Plymouth  Colony. 


21^8 


mS'lOKV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Frank  W.  Mix. 


Willard  T.  Goodwin. 


LOCK     MAKKUS.  259 

John  Steele  was  the  leader  (with  Thomas  Hooker)  of  the  iirst 
Connecticut  Colony  and  for  twenty  years  Recorder  of  the  Hart- 
ford and  Farniington  colonies. 

jMr.  Mix  in  his  younger  days  learned  the  trade  of  cloth  dress- 
ing and  wool  carding,  and  carried  on  business  in  Roxbury  and 
in  VVatertown,  Conn.  He  was  also  superintendent  of  a  woolen 
factory  in  Humphreysville  and  Manchester  until  1824,  when  he 
removed  to  Hartford  and  went  into  the  mercantile  business.  He 
moved  to  Terryville,  in  the  town  of  Plymouth,  in  1832,  and 
entered  the  employ  of  Deacon  Burnham  Terry,  but  in  1833  went 
to  work  for  John  C.  Lewis  and  William  E.  McKee,  then  just 
commencing,  in  a  small  way,  the  manufacture  of  locks.  He  re- 
mained with  them  until  the  hard  times  of  1836,  when  he  moved 
to  New  Britain,  remaining  there  during  the  years  1836  and  1837, 
in  the  emplov  ol  Stanley  &  Woodrufl',  afterwards  the  firm  of 
Russell  &  Erwin.  In  1S36  he  again  removed  to  Terryville  and 
went  to  work  for  H.Wekon  &  Co.,  clock  manufacturers,  making 
their  dies  and  punches  and  doing  their  press  work.  He  remained 
with  them  until  about  1S45,  when  H.  Welton  &  Co.  failed  and 
he  returned  to  the  lock  business  in  the  employ  of  what  was  then 
Lewis  &  Gaylord,  and  continued  with  them  and  the  Eagle  Lock 
Co.,  as  die  and  tool  maker,  until  his  death  in  1859. 

He  held  many  important  positions  in  the  town  and  was  con- 
sidered and  known  as  an  honest,  upright  man  in  all  of  his  deal- 
ings with  his  fellow  men ;  puritanical  in  his  ideas,  aristocratic  by 
nature,  and  one  who  took  a  great  deal  of  pride  in  his  family  and 
all  that  belonged  to  them.  His  life  was  one  of  continual  hard 
work;  raising  a  family  often  children,  it  was  a  hard  struggle  for 
him  until  he  died,  but  he  took  good  care  of  those  children  until 
they  were  able  to  care  for  themselves.  His  remains  lie  in  the 
Terrvville  Cemetery.  He  belonged  to  the  IMasonic  Fraternity 
and  always  urged  his  boys  to  join  it  when  they  were  of  a  proper 
age.  How  well  they  followed  his  advise  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  three  out  of  the  four  boys,  viz.,  Elisha,  James  and  Frank 
years  ago  united  with  that  organization. 

He  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  181 2  and  always  took  a  great 
interest  in  everything  that  appertained  to  the  welfare  of  his  native 
land. 

KLISHA    MIX. 

Elisha  Mix,  eldest  son  of  James  and  Lucv  Alix,  was  born  in 
Watertown,  Conn.,  in  1818.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  was 
residing  with  his  parents  in  New  Britain,  and  during  the  hard 
times  of  1S36  he  walked  or  tramped  to  Cayuga  County,  N.  V., 
where  he  worked  one  season  upon  a  farm.  The  next  vear  he 
returned  to  his  father's  home  in  Terryville  and  worked  for  Good- 
win, McKee  &  Williams,  who  were  starting  in  the  trunk  lock 
business.  At  about  this  time  a  fine  opening  presented  itself 
under  Captain  Tracy,  of  New  Britain,  and  he  removed  to  that 
place  and  went  to  work  in  the  lock  factory  of  Stanlev,  Russell  & 
Co.,  afterwards  Russell  &  Erwin,  where  he  remained  until  1840, 
when  his  health   having  been   impaired,  he  shipped  before  the 


26o  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTJF. 

mast  for  a  sea  voyage  on  a  Liverpool  packet.  Upon  his  return 
from  the  voyage  he  enlisted  for  the  Florida  war.  When  that  was 
over  ne  returned  again  to  Terryville,  where  his  family  were  then 
residing,  and  entered  the  employ  of  H.  Welton  &  Co.,  as  con- 
tractor and  foreman,  remaining  with  them  vuitil  they  failed  in 
1845.  He  married  Miss  Amelia  Edmonds,  of  Terryville,  in 
1843,  and  removed  to  New  Haven  in  1846,  to  take  charge  of  a 
department  in  Chauncey  Jerome's  clock  factory,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1854,  when  ne  moved  to  Michigan,  where  he  now 
resides. 

For  many  years  he  followed  surveying  and  the  lumber  busi- 
ness, but  in  1874  he,  with  his  family,  returned  to  Terryville, 
where  they  remained  about  four  years,  and  engaged  in  the  lock 
business.  At  the  end  of  the  four  years  he  again  returned  to  his 
home  in  Michigan.  He  enlisted  in  the  war  of  the  rebellion  as 
captain  in  the  Eighth  Michigan  Cavalry  in  1863.  He  was  pro- 
moted to  major,  then  lieutenant-colonel  and  to  the  full  colonelcy 
and  commander  ol  his  regiment.  He  was  brevetted  brigadier- 
general  for  long  and  meritorious  service,  and  was  mustered  out 
in  September,  1865,  at  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was,  for  a  time, 
in  command  of  a  large  force  in  Central  Tennesee,  commensurate 
with  his  rank.  He  was  respected  by  all  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact,  and  served  with  distinction  in  all  of  his  diflerent  com- 
mands during  his  entire  service  in  the  arm}'. 

He  has  two  childi'en,  both  married,  and  grandchildren  to 
bless  his  old  age.  He  is  a  man  possessing  great  force  of  char- 
acter and  energy  of  purpose,  and  there  are  very  few  men  better 
informed  upon  any  subject  than  he.  He  was  a  good  mechanic  in 
his  younger  days  and  was  identified  thoroughly  with  everything 
in  Plymouth,  and  but  for  want  of  room,  could  furnish  a  history 
of  that  town  and  the  men  who  have  long  since  passed  away. 

JAMES    C.    MIX. 

James  C.  Mix  was  born  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  December  19, 
1826,  where  he  lived  until  1S32,  when  he  moved  with  his  parents 
to  Terryville.  He  was  naturally  a  fine  mechanic  and  worked  as 
such  in  Terryville  and  New  Haven  for  about  twenty-five  years. 
In  iS6^  he  was  emploved  by  the  ^"Etna  Life  Insurance  Companv, 
of  Hartford,  as  managing  agent  for  New  York  State,  with  head- 
quarters at  Syracuse,  to  which  city  he  moved  with  his  family  in 
the  fall  of  that  year,  remaining  there  for  twenty-three  years. 

In  1870,  CO- working  with  his  brother,  Frank  W.  Mix,  he 
invented  and  obtained  a  patent  upon  a  mail  bag  lock,  which  was 
used  by  tiie  United  States  Government  for  many  years.  The 
brothers  Mix  formed  a  company  for  the  manufacture  of  these 
locks,  the  firm  being  known  as  Gaylord,  Mix  &  Co.,  whicli  con- 
cern afterwards  sold  out  to  the  Eagle  Lock  Company,  of  Terr}-- 
ville. 

In  1S79  Mr.  Mix  w^as  employed  as  managing  .'igent  for 
Central  New  York  bv  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  Company, 
and  from  that  time,  with  two  or  three  short  intermissions,  was  an 


LOCK     MAKEKS.  261 

earnest  worker  lor  that  company.  In  i8S8  he  removed  with  his 
family  from  JSyracuse  to  New  Voik  City,  where  he  founded  what 
is  known  as  the  Manhattan  Department  of  the  New  York  Life 
Insurance  Company.  By  dint  of  hard  work  and  unselfish  devo- 
tion to  the  company's  interests,  in  the  short  space  of  four  years 
he  placed  his  department  in  the  very  first  rank,  and  it  is  to-day 
perhaps  his  most  fitting  monument.  It  may  he  truthfully  said  of 
him,  that  he  was  one  of  the  leading  life  insurance  men  of  his 
time. 

In  1S47  Air  Mix  married  Miranda,  daughter  of  Robert 
Johnson,  of  Terryville,  who  survives  him.  Six  children  were 
born  to  them,  only  two  of  whom,  Lucy  S.  and  Robert  J.,  are 
now  living,  the  latter  having  succeeded  his  father  as  manager  of 
the  Alanhattan  Department.  In  the  summer  of  1S93  Mr.  Mix 
was  taken  seriously  ill,  but  remained  at  his  post  until  he  became 
too  feeble  to  leave  his  bed.  In  November  of  that  year,  upon  the 
advice  of  his  physicians,  he  was  accompanied  by  his  family  to 
Nassau,  in  the  Island  of  New  Providence,  Bahamas,  but  the 
change  failed  to  benefit  him,  and  he  died  there  on  the  iith  of 
December,  1S93,  after  five  months  of  terrible  suffering. 

His  remains  were  brought  back  to  his  childhood  home, 
Terrvville,  where  funeral  services  were  held  in  the  chmxh  for 
which  he  labored  earnestlv  lor  many  years.  His  body  now  lies 
besides  those  of  his  deceased  children  in  the  beautiful  cemetery 
on  the  hill.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  sav  that  he  gave  his  life  to 
his  work. 


MAJOR    FRANK    W.    MIX. 

Major  Frank  W.  Mix  was  born  in  Terryville,  February  17, 
1S34.  He  attended  the  village  school  until  he  was  sixteen,  when 
he  went  into  the  factory  with  his  father.  What  is  now  the  Eagle 
Lock  Company,  in  Terrvville,  was  then  Lewis  &  Gaylord.  Here 
he  learned  the  art  of  die-making  and  pressing  and  obtained  a 
general  idea  of  machine  work.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  left 
home,  going  to  Waterbury  to  perfect  himself  as  a  machinist  and 
tool-maker.  At  the  end  of  six  months  he  accepted  a  call  from 
New  Haven  to  take  charge  of  the  die  and  press  work  of  the  New 
Haven  Clock  Company,  where  he  remained  a  year.  Still  having 
a  desire  to  become  a  perfect  tool-maker,  he  secured  a  position 
with  what  is  now  the  Winchester  Arms  Company,  then  run  by 
Smith  &  Wesson,  as  a  tool-maker,  remaining  there  until  the 
concern  failed' in  18^7.  While  in  New  Llaven,  Major  Mix 
became  actively  interested  in  musical  matters,  having  charge  of 
the  choir  and  plaving  the  organ  in  one  of  the  churches.  Here 
he  was  also  married  in  iS^6.  After  the  failure  of  the  pistol 
company,  Major  Mix  went  into  the  sewing  machine  business 
with  his  father-in-law,  R.  B.  Fuller,  locating  in  Alansfield,  after- 
wards in  Norwich,  continuing  until  i860,  when  thev  sold  out, 
the  Major  going  to  the  .Sharp's  Rifle  Factory  in  Hartford.  In 
the  Spring  of  iS6r,   his  health  being  impaired,  he  removed  to 


362 


lllSrOKY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Edward  H.  Mix 


Henrv  T.  Wlieeler. 


LOCK     MAKERS.  263 

Michigan,  where,  .September  i,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  the  Third 
Alichigan  Cavahy,  with  which  he  served  for  eleven  months, 
when  he  was  appointed  a  captain  ol"  the  famous  Fourth  Michi- 
gan Cavalry.  While  with  the  Third  he  took  part  in  the  capture 
of  New  Madrid  and  Island  No.  10,  and  the  battles  of  Corinth, 
Inka,  and  Boonville,  Miss.  He  joined  the  Fourth  Cavalry  at 
Mumfordsville,  Ky,,  and  was  promoted  to  be  major  for  gallantry 
at  the  battles  of  Stone  River.  While  he  was  in  command  of  the 
regiment  it  took  part  in  eighty-four  general  engagements,  not  to 
mention  scores  of  lesser  events.  These  included  Chattanooga, 
Chickamauga,  Mission  Ridge,  and  most  of  the  important  actions 
of  the  Western  Army  up  to  the  siege  of  Atlanta.  He  was 
severely  wounded  at  Lovejoy's  Station,  in  August,  1S64,  on 
accotmt  of  which  he  received  an  honorable  discharge  in  the  fol- 
lowing November.  He  lost  two  horses  in  action  and  was 
repeatedly  named  by  corps  and  brigade  commanders  for  gallantry, 
promptness,  and  the  skillful  manner  in  which  he  handled  his 
regiment  in  tight  places.  On  two  diHerent  occasions  the  brigade 
commander  attributed  the  success  of  his  brigade  "to  the 
brilliancy  and  tenacity  of  the  fighting  of  the  Fourth  Michigan, 
under  the  command  of  Major  Frank  W.  Mix."  It  was  this 
regiment  that  at  the  close  of  the  war  captiued  Jefierson  Davis. 

During  the  last  twenty-nine  years.  Major  Mix  has  resided  in 
this  state,  engaged  in  the  manufacture,  as  well  as  the  invention, 
of  locks.  During  that  time  he  has  probably  taken  out  more 
patents  on  cabinet  and  trunk  locks  than  any  man  in  the  cour.try. 
In  1S70,  in  connection  with  his  brother  James,  he  brought  out  a 
padlock,  known  as  the  Mix  lock,  which  the  Government  adopted 
for  mail  bags  and  which  was  manufactured  by  the  Eagle  Lock 
Company,  where  Major  Mix  was  employed  as  superintendent 
for  ten  years.  Subsequently  he  resided  in  New  Britain  as  super- 
intendent of  the  Corbin  Cabinet  Lock  Co.,  in  which  he  made  a 
notable  success,  as  is  attested  by  the  flourishing  condition  of  the 
business  at  the  present  time. 

In  1S91,  Henry  R.  Towne,  president  of  the  Yale  &  Towne 
JMfg.  Co.,  of  Stamford,  sent  for  him  to  organize  a  cabinet  lock 
department  for  that  companv.  Mr.  Mix  accepted  and  has  since 
been  with  this  companv.  His  ambition  has  always  been  to  be 
at  the  head  of  the  cabinet  lock  business,  and  with  his  practical 
knowledge,  that  is  the  place  where  he  belongs. 

He  has  a  wife,  who,  before  her  marriage,  was  Miss  ISIarv  J. 
Fuller,  and  three  children,  a  son  and  two  daughters.  His  only 
son  was  the  organizer  and  superintendent  of  the  Government 
^lail  Lock  and  Repair  Shop  in  Washington  for  two  years  and  a 
half,  when  he  resigned  this  position  to  accept  one  with  his  father 
in  Stamford,  as  his  assistant,  wdiere  he  is  now. 

The  Major  is  alvvavs  a  Republican  in  politics,  is  connected 
with  the  Congregational  Church,  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
Fraternity,  of  the  O.  U.  A.  M.,  the  Grand  Army,  the  Army  and 
Navv  Club,  and  the  Putnam  Phalanx.  He  is  a  useful  and 
respected  citizen,  and  occupies,  with  his  family,  an  honorable 
position  in  the  community. 


264 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


EDWARD    H.    MIX. 

Edward  H.  Mix,  youngest  son  of  James  and  Lucy  Mix,  was 
born  in  Terryville,  December  11,  183S,  and  with  the  exception 
of  the  time  spent  in  the  army,  liis  days  were  all  pas^ed  in  the 
lock  business.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  he  enlisted  and 
entered  the  Fourth  Connecticut  Infantry  as  first  lieutenant. 
After  serving  there  quite  a  while,  he  was  promoted  to  captain  of 
Company  B,  Sixteenth  Connecticut  Infantry,  said  company  hav- 
ing been  raised  in  Hartford,  Conn. 

He  was  drowned  in  Albermarle  Sound,  March  S,  1S64, 
while  trying  to  reach  his  regiment,  then  at  Newberne,  N.  C,  by 
being  knocked  ofi'  the  vessel  by  the  swinging  of  the  boom.  He 
left  a  record  as  a  good  soldier,  and  no  finer  looking  one  ever 
lived.  He  was  an  earnest  Christian  and  a  good  worker  in  the 
church  in  Terryville,  to  which  he  belonged,  and  we  are  justified 
in  saying  that  no  brighter  or  more  energetic  young  man  ever 
lived  in  Plymouth. 

HENRY    T.    WHEELER. 

Henry  T.  Wheeler  was  born  in  Great  Barrington,  Mass., 
and  married  Miss  Mary  E.  Priest  of  Barkhamstead.  He  came 
to  Terryville  in  1S82  to  superintend  the  Eagle  Lock  Company's 
works,  succeeding  F.  ^V.  Mix,  and  continued  to  hold  the  posi- 
tion until  1 889,  when  Major  Ells  was  appointed  superintendent. 
Mr.  Wheeler  then  removed  to  Collinsville  and  engaged  in  the  hotel 
business,  which  is  known  as  the  Valley  House. 


Tlio  Pirst  Lock  Shop. 


CHAPTER      XII 


ANDREW    TERKV    AND    CO. 


Sketch  of  the  Founder  of  This  Prosperous  Concern  which  was  One  of  the  Pioneers 
in  the  Malleable  Iron  Industry— The  Men  who  Have  Successfully  Managed 
and  Kept  It  Running  as  Steadily  Nearly  as  Clock  Work  for  Close  on  to  Half  a 
Century. 

THE  establishment  of  A.  Terry  &  Company  is  among  the 
pioneers  of  the  malleable  iron  industry  in  the  United  States 
and  has  grown  from  a  shop  forty  feet  square  with  one  air  fur- 
nace and  three  small  annealing  kilns,  each  having  twenty-four 
pots  capacity,  all  operated  by  twenty-five  men,  into  a  plant 
covering  an  area  of  about  one  and  one-half  acres,  giving  employ- 
ment to  loS  men  and  producing  a  daily  output  of  nearly  two  tons 
of  a  superior  quality  of  malleable  iron  castings,  which  vary  in 
weight  from  those  so  small  that  two  gross  weigh  less  than  a 
pound,  to  others  which  weigh  three  pounds  each. 

Ground  was  broken  for  this  foundry  November  34,  1847?  by 
Andrew  Terry,  brother  of  James  Terry,  the  first  president  of  the 
Eagle  Lock  Company,  and  the  second  son  of  Eli  Terry,  2d. 
The  latter  gentleman  was  the  son  of  Eli  Terr}^  the  first  manu- 
facturer of  clocks  in  this  country  and  the  founder  of  the  village 
of  Terry ville.  Little  vsas  known  about  the  process  of  making 
malleable  iron  at  that  time,  and  the  new  concern  struggled  for 
existence  for  a  good  many  years,  dining  which  time  Mr.  Terry 
gathered  around  him  men  of  practical  ingenuity,  business  ability 
and  good  sense,  and  in  i860  he  associated  with  himself  O.  D. 
Hunter,  who  had  learned  the  business  in  his  employ,  and 
R.  D.  H.  Allen,  who  came  from  a  clerical  position  in  the  Eagle 
Lock  Company's  office.  These  three  men  formed  a  joint  stock 
company  under  its  present  name  with  a  capital  of  $i6,oco,  after- 
wards increased  to  $20,000.  In  1871  Mr.  Terry  sold  his  interest 
to  his  partners  and  went  to  Kansas.  His  successors  admitted 
into  the  company  N.  Taylor  Baldwin,  a  brother-in-law  of  Mr. 
Terry,  and  J.  W.  Clark,  the  latter  having  been  trained  in  the 
company's  employ.  In  1S75  R.  D.  H.  Allen  returned  to  the 
Eagle  Lock  Companv,  and  X.  Taylor  Baldwin  succeeded  to  the 
financial  management  until  his  death  in  1S89. 

The  present  officers  of  the  companv  are:  O.  D.  Hunter, 
president,  and  J.  \V.  Clark,  secretary  and  treasurer.     The  stock 


366 


HISrOKV    OF    IM.VMOU'Ill. 


The  Old  Foundrv  — Front  View. 


The  Old  Foundrx-     Rear  View. 


ANDItEW    TKKUV    AND    CO.  267 

is  all  owned  in  Terryville.  Between  forty  and  fifty  moulders 
are  employed.  There  are  two  cupolas  for  melting  iron,  one  of 
which  is  used  exclusively  to  cast  the  annealing  pots  used  in  the 
works.  About  six  tons  of  iron  are  daily  melted.  In  the  anneal- 
ing department  the  kilns  are,  with  only  two  exceptions,  fitted  up 
with  the  Aerated  Fuel  Company's  oil  burners  and  heated  with 
crude  oil,  which  is  stored  in  a  nest  of  tanks  midway  between  the 
New  York  and  New  England  railroad  tracks  and  the  shops, 
having  a  capacity  of  17,000  gallons.  With  the  exception  of  the 
eight  annealing  furnaces,  each  holding  seventy-two  pots,  six 
furnaces  being  operated  by  steam  power,  the  entire  plant  is  run 
bv  water  power,  the  company  owning  one  of  the  finest  water 
privileges  on  the  line  of  the  Pequabuck  river.  The  business  is 
managed  by  O.  D.  Hunter,  the  president,  and  J.  W.  Clark,  the 
secretary  and  treasurer.  The  former  has  been  activelv  engaged 
with  the  establishment  for  forty-six  consecutive  years  and  the 
latter  for  thirty-three  years.  Both  are  practical  malleable  iron 
makers. 

The  annealing  department  is  in  charge  of  Charles  Purington, 
who  has  given  careful  attention  to  this  most  important  liranch 
for  twenty-five  years.  The  moulding  shop  is  superintended  by 
Edgar  L.  Pond,  who  has  been  with  the  company  over  twenty- 
three  years.  The  clerical  work  is  performed  by  Jonathan  Starr, 
who  came  to  the  ofiice  shortly  after  Mr.  Baldwin's  deatii,  as 
assistant  secretary  and  bookkeeper,  with  an  experience  of  twenty- 
one  years  in  bookkeeping,  and  George  E.  Bushnell,  who  has 
been  an  attache  of  the  office  for  twenty-four  years  past. 

Since  the  above  was  written,  the  buildings,  except  the 
office,  have  all  been  swept  away  by  fire,  but  new  buildings  have 
been  erected  which  will  be  much  more  convenient  and  imposing. 

ANDREW    TERRY. 

Andrew  Terry  was  born  in  Terryville,  Conn.,  December 
29,  1S24,  at  the  old  homestead,  still  standing,  on  the  south  side 
of  the  road,  west  of  the  upper  lock  shop.  He  was  the  second 
son  of  Eli  Terry,  Jr.,  and  Samantha  McKee.  At  the  famous 
boy's  school  kept  by  Deacon  Hart,  in  Farmington,  Conn.,  he 
pursued  classical  studies  almost  to  the  point  required  for  entering 
college.  Soon  after  his  father's  death,  and  before  becoming  of 
age,  he  went  to  Washington,  Pa.,  and  became  clerk  in  a  store. 
In  that  place  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Susan  Orr,  whom  he 
married  October  16,  1844.  They  had  two  children;  Gertrude, 
who  died  April  10,  18^6,  and  Margaret,  who  married  C.  S. 
Treadway,  cashier  of  the  Bristol  National  Bank,  and  died  Sep- 
tember 17,  1880. 

Returning  to  Terryville  immediately  after  his  marriage,  he 
established  himself  as  a  country'  merchant  in  "the  store,"  which 
all  of  the  older  citizens  of  Terryville  remember,  and  remained 
there  for  two  years 

November  24,  1S47,  the  first  ground  was  broken  for  a 
foundry  for  the   manufacture  of  malleable  iron.     The  business 


26S 


HISTORY    OF    PI.^MOL'TH. 


^y  '  ^"^i^  ' 


Andrew  Terry. 


J    VV.  Clark,  Secretary. 


ANDKKW      lEUKV    AND    CO.  269 

was  then  new  to  this  part  of  the  country,  and  the  difficlilties  to 
he  surmounted  were  very  great. 

By  his  energy  and  courage  the  ohstacles  arising  from  limited 
capital  and  inexperience  were  overcome,  and  the  business  was 
established  on  a  paying  basis.  He  continued  the  same  under  his 
own  name  until  February  2,  i860,  when  a  joint  stock  corpora- 
tion was  formed,  to  which  his  name  was  given,  and  of  which  he 
continued  as  president  and  principal  owner  until  April  26,  1S71, 
when  he  (.lisposed  of  his  entire  inteiest  therein. 

The  business  is  still  carried  on  under  the  old  name  of 
A.  Terry  &  Co. 

In  186S,  Mr.  Terry  moved  to  VVaterbury,  still  continuing  to 
give  his  attention  to  the  Terryville  business.  In  the  summer  of 
1S71,  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Lawrence,  Kan.,  where  he 
engaged  in  private  banking  and  real  estate  operations.  Remov- 
ing to  Bristol,  Conn.,  in  July,  1S75,  in  connection  with  G.  J. 
Bentley,  the  enterprise  known  as  the  Bristol  Foundry  Company 
was  organized  in  the  summer  of  1S76,  and  Mr.  Terry  w'as 
actively  engaged  in  it  until  his  last  sickness.  From  this  begin- 
ning has  grown  the  great  plant  of  the  Sessions'  Foundry  Com- 
pany, which  is  the  largest  grey  iron  foundry  in  New  England. 

i\s  a  citizen  he  realized  his  responsibilities,  and  tried  to 
discharge  them  faithfully.  Upon  all  questions  of  public  policy 
he  held  decided  opinions,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  express  them. 
Office  he  never  cared  for.  When  the  civil  war  broke  out  he 
gave  his  time,  mone}',  heart,  and  body  to  the  support  of  the 
government.  He  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  I,  First 
Regiment,  Connecticut  Heavy  Artillery,  and  went  out  as 
orderh'  sergeant.  A  severe  illness  rendered  him  unfit  for  duty, 
and  he  received  his  discharge,  for  disability,  September  23,  1S61. 
On  the  5th  of  October  he  was  commissioned  as  major  ot  the 
Eighth  Regiment,  Connecticut  Volunteers,  and  was  soon  pro- 
moted to  the  lieutenant-colonelcy.  He  took  part  in  Gen.  Burn- 
side's  expedition  to  North  Carolina,  and  participated  in  the 
capture  of  Roanoke  Island,  and  in  the  battle  of  Newberne.  His 
commission  was  resigned  March  28,  1S62. 

In  the  list  of  those  uniting  with  the  Congregational  Church 
in  Terryville,  in  1S42,  occurs  the  name  of  Andrew  Terrv  ;  he 
was  then  eighteen  years  of  age.  In  1868  he  removed  his  con- 
nection to  the  Second  Congregational  Church  in  Waterbury. 
On  his  removal  to  Kansas,  he  took  a  letter  of  recommendation 
to  the  Plymouth  Congregational  Church  in  Lawrence.  A 
marked  era  in  his  religious  life  began  with  the  death  of  his  little 
daughter  Gertrude.  The  revival  of  1S57-58,  which  brought  "all 
Terryville"  into  the  Church,  found  a  most  helpful  laborer  in 
him.  At  Allentown  a  mission  Sunday  School  was  sustained  for 
a  considerable  time  under  his  superintendency,  with  very  encour- 
aging results.  Theological  questions  then  had  for  him  a  fasci- 
nating interest;  late  into  the  night  he  would  talk  with  ministers 
and  others  interested  in  such  thinking  His  library  was  well 
selected  and  well  read.  Many  ministers  shared  the  hospitality 
of   his   home,   and  were   assisted    by   him    in    substantial   wa}  s. 


270 


llis'l()i;\-    ()|.     I'l  .^  MOL' III. 


N.  Taylor  Baldwin. 


O.  D.  Hunter. 


ANDHliW    TEKKV    AND    CO. 


Among  tlie  nunibcr  were  Rev.  M.  II.  Williams,  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  Rev.  J.  C.  McClintock,  of  Burlington,  Iowa.  C.  Terry 
Treadway  of  Bristol,  is  the  only  living  descendant. 


O.    I).     IIUNTKR. 

O.  D.  Hunter  was  horn  in  Wendell,  Mass.,  and  came  to 
Terr\ville  from  Greenfield,  Mass.,  in  1850,  and  was  engaged  as 
carpenter  and  joiner  by  Andrew  Terry  to  erect  a  dwelling  house 
for  him  near  the  iron  foundry.  Mr.  Hunter  has  spent  his  whole 
time  for  the  past  forty-five  years  in  and  around  the  foundr\-  that 
he  is  now  so  prominently  identified  with.  Many  of  the  old 
foundry  buildings  were  built  by  him,  and  since  the  fire  of  the 
past  winter,  which  wn'ped  out  the  whole  plant,  he  has  taken  an 
active  part  in  the  construction  of  new  and  more  modern 
buildings. 

Mr.  Hunter  has  lesided  at  the  old  Eli  Terry,  Sr.,  place, 
opposite  the  town  hall,  for  the  past  thirty  years.  There  is  not  a 
living  representative  of  those  who  were  prominently  connected 
with  the  business  when  Mr.  Hunter  came  here  in  1S50.  He  is 
one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the  Terrvville  Congregational 
Church.  He  married  Miss  Harriet  E.  Trask,  of  Deerfield, 
Mass.,  October  17,  1852,  by  whom  he  has  one  son.  Dr.  Dwight 
W.  Hunter,  of  New  York. 


HON.    N.    TAYLOR     BALDWIN. 

The  Hon.  N.  Taylor  Baldwin  was  born  in  Bristol,  Conn., 
October  3,  1S35,  and  died  in  Terryville,  March  16,  1SS9. 

His  father,  Ezra  Baldwin,  moved  to  Winsted  when  he  was 
quite  a  young  boy  and  there  he  availed  himself  of  such  school 
advantages  as  Winsted  then  afibrded.  When  his  school  days 
were  over  he  went  to  Terryville  and  engaged  in  clerking  in  a 
store.  In  1S64  Mr.  Baldwin  united  with  the  Congregational 
Church  and  was  an  active  member  and  regular  attendant  He 
took  a  deep  interest  in  school,  town,  state  and  national  affairs, 
and  being  a  good  parliamentarian  was  often  called  to  preside 
over  meetings  of  various  kinds.  In  1S66,  1873  and  18S1  he  rep- 
resented the  town  of  Plymouth  in  the  House,  and  in  1870  the 
Sixteenth  district  in  the  Senate.  He  was  a  delegate  from  Con- 
necticut to  the  convention  in  Chicago  that  nominated  James  A. 
Garfield,  and  acted  as  clerk  for  the  state  delegates.  For  manv 
years  he  was  the  successful  busine.«s  manager  of  the  A.  Terrv  & 
Co.  Malleable  Iron  Foundrv,  and  also  a  director  of  the  Eagle 
Lock  Company,  the  Bristol  Savings  Bank,  and  of  North  &  Judd, 
New  Britain. 

His  wife  was  Lucinda  Terry,  daughter  of  Eli  Terrv,  Jr., 
and  granddaughter  of  Eli  Terry,  Sr.,  the  world-renowned  clock 
inventor.  Mrs.  Baldwin  died  in  1S84.  Two  children  survive, 
Susie,  who  married  Dr.  William  P.  Swett,  and  Richard  D. 
Baldwin. 


273 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Mr.  Baldwin  was  earnest,  active  and  helpful  as  a  citizen  in 
all  good  ways — in  the  local  aflairs  ol'  school  and  town  and 
church,  and  in  state  and  national  politics,  a  lasting  monument  to 
his  memory  being  the  beautiful  park,  east  of  the  village  school- 
house.  In  1S70  he  made  a  most  efficient  House  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  finance.  In  1S73  he  was  House  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  state  prison,  and  in  iSSi  he  was  House 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  banks.  While  not  pretending  to 
possess  the  gift  of  oratory,  he  had  an  easy  and  effective  wav  of 
putting  things  that  always  made  his  words  influential.  And 
there  was  such  implicit  faith  in  his  honesty  that  when  he,  as 
chairman  of  a  committee,  said  a  bill  was  right  or  wrong,  that 
settled  it  so  far  as  the  action  of  the  house  was  concerned. 
Because  of  his  impartiality  and  good  Judgment  he  was  often 
selected  by  the  courts  to  act  as  commissioner. 


J.  W.  Clark's  Residence. 


O.  D.  Hunter's  ResiJence. 


CHAPTER     XIII. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES. 


Interesting  Reading  About  Past  and  Present  People  of  Plymouth,  Commencing 
with  Judge  Augustus  H,  Fenn,  Now  the  Foremost  of  Those  who  Reside  Else- 
where, and  Many  Others  who  Have  Attained  Worldly  Fame— Illustrations  of 
Subjects  and  Buildings. 

A  UGUSTUS  HALL  FENN,  one  of  Plymouth's  most  prom- 
-^^  ising  sons,  was  born  in  Plymouth,  January  iS,  1844.  His 
father's  name  was  Augustus  L.  Fenn,  son  of  Elam  Fenn,  and 
his  mother  was  Esther  Maria  Hall,  daughter  of  Orison  and 
Betsy  Atwater  Hall.  He  received  a  common  school  education, 
with  one  or  two  terms  at  higher  schools.  At  the  early  age  of 
fourteen  he  commenced  to  write  verses  for  publication,  some  of 
which  were  received  with  favor,  going  the  rounds  of  the  press, 
and  the  next  year  he  collated  and  published  a  small  volume  of 
poems.  In  ISIarch,  1862,  he  commenced  the  study  of  law  in  the 
office  of  Ammi  Giddings  in  Plymouth  Center,  and  in  July  of  the 
same  year  enlisted  in  the  Nineteenth  Connecticut  Volunteers. 
Returning  in  September,  1865,  he  resumed  the  study  of  law  in 
the  office  of  S.  W.  Kellogg  in  Waterbury.  Here  he  remained 
until  February,  1S67,  when  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Litch- 
field. From  there  he  entered  the  law  school  of  Harvard  College 
at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  where  he  remained  one  year,  receiving 
from  that  institution  the  degree  of  LL.  B.  Tiie  next  \  ear  he 
practiced  law  in  Waterbury  until  April  i,  1S69,  when  he 
removed  to  Plymouth  Center,  where  after  a  few  years'  residence 
he  went  to  Winsted  and  opened  a  law  office.  This  he  continued 
until  1S87,  when  Governor  Lounsbury  appointed  him  judge  of 
the  Superior  Court  of  Connecticut,  he  at  that  time  being  the 
youngest  presiding  officer  of  the  Connecticut  bench.  This  was 
followed  by  promotion  to  the  associate  judgeship  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Errors  of  Connecticut  by  Acting  Governor  Bulkelev  in 
1893,  which  ofiice  he  still  holds. 

Judge  Fenn  is  justly  proud  of  his  military  record,  and  per- 
haps no  better  sketch  of  his  services  during  the  rebellion  could 
be  written  than  the  following  which  is  copied  from  Vaill's  His- 
tory of  the  Second  Connecticut  Artillery  : 

"The  most  unpromising  officer  that  left  Camp  Button  with 
the  old   Nineteenth  was  First   Lieutenant   Augustus   H.   Fenn. 


374 


HISTORY    OF    PL-ilMOUTH. 


Judge  Augustus  H.  Fenn. 


BIOCJKAl'lHCAL    SKETCHES.  275 

He  was  but  eighteen  years  old,  of  freckled  face  and  awkward 
gait,  and  was  regarded  with  surly  contempt  by  windy  and  con- 
sequential brother  officers.  Every  private  soldier,  too,  had  his 
fling  at  him,  as  it  was  considered  very  impudent  for  him  to  be 
an  officer  at  all,  but  he  had  recruited  his  forty  men,  aud  there  he 
was,  with  a  commission  in  his  pocket  froin  Governor  Bucking- 
ham. There  was  no  getting  away  from  him,  antl  he  was  assigned 
to  Company  K,  which  was  a  kind  of  regimental  Botany  Bay. 
But  three  years  of  fighting  blew  away  a  good  deal  of  showy 
incompetency  and  revealed  true  merit  wherever  it  existed. 
Lieutenant  Fenn  grew  in  the  estimation  of  his  fellow  officers  and 
of  all  who  knew  him,  until  there  was  no  tongue  that  dared  to 
wag  against  him.  He  proved  himself  one  of  the  best  drill 
masters  and  disciplinarians  in  the  regiment,  and  one  of  the  most 
competent  officers  in  every  position.  Before  going  to  the  front 
he  was  made  captain  of  Company  C.  On  the  22d  of  June  he 
led  his  company  into  the  skirmish  at  Petersbuig  as  far  as  it 
advanced,  and  was  then  and  there  detailed  A.  A.  A.  General  on 
Upton's  start',  vice  Captain  Sanborn  of  the  Fifth  Maine,  and 
mounting  a  horse  which  had  been  brought  to  him  commenced 
his  duties  at  once.  When  the  regiment  left  the  vSixth  Corps  at 
Tenallytown  in  July  he  was  relieved.  In  September  he  was 
appointed  judge  advocate  of  the  division  court  martial  which 
tried  twenty-five  cases.  At  Cedar  Creek  he  lost  his  right  arm. 
The  surgeons  at  Annapolis  proposed  to  muster  him  out  for  dis- 
ability, but  he  protested  and  wrote  to  General  McKenzie  for  his 
interference.  The  consequence  was  that  he  was  retained  and  in 
less  than  seven  weeks  from  the  time  he  had  an  arm  taken  ofi"  at 
the  shoulder  he  reported  for  full  duty  at  the  front,  and  was  at 
once  detailed  as  A.  A.  A.  General  of  the  brigade  again,  which 
detail  was  afterward  changed  to  that  of  brigade  inspector.  He 
subsequently  participated  in  several  fights.  He  was  detailed  as 
judge  advocate  five  diflerent  times,  was  brevetted  major  after 
Cedar  Creek,  promoted  major  in  January,  1865,  brevetted  lieu- 
tenant-colonel for  Little  Sailor  Creek,  and  colonel  '  for  services 
during  the  war.'  " 

Mr.  Fenn,  while  he  resided  in  Pi}  mouth,  held  the  offices  of 
judge  of  probate,  town  clerk,  registrar  of  births,  marriages  and 
deaths,  and  justice  of  the  peace.  Previously  he  had  been  city 
clerk  of  Waterbury,  and  had  been  a  candidate  for  town  clerk 
there  and  representative  to  the  legislature,  but  was  defeated. 

Judge  Fenn  possesses  the  judicial  faculty  in  a  verv  high 
degree.  He  takes  broad  and  comprehensive  views  of  legal  and 
constitutional  questions,  and  his  opinions  and  conclusions  are 
stated  with  clearness  and  force.  He  is  a  scholar  bv  taste  and 
culture,  an  eloquent  speaker,  and  a  careful  student  of  law,  and 
has  a  well  defined  conception  of  the  nature  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment. For  some  time  he  has  lectured  to  the  law  department 
of  Yale  College.  His  extensive  knowledge  of  the  law,  keen  dis- 
crimination, and  masterlv  opinions,  have  well  fitted  him  for  this 
work,  and  he  is  held  in  high  regard  bv  students  and  professors 
alike. 


276 


HISTOUY    OF    PI.VMOUTH. 


Homer  E.  Cook. 


J.  W.  P011.I. 


HIOGKArillCAL    SKK'IClIK.s.  277 

IIO.MKK    K.     COOK. 

Homer  E.  Cook,  who  was  born  in  Wallingford,  Conn., 
June  20,  1S25,  came  to  Terryville  when  sixteen  years  of  age,  and 
worked  in  the  Eagle  Lock  Company's  tactory  until  1887.  He 
was  tax  collector  for  twenty-one  years  but  resigned  in  1884, 
owing  to  ill  health.  In  1S84  he  represented  the  town  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  receiving  many  votes  from  the  Demo- 
cratic party  besides  a  full  Republican  vote.  He  united  with  the 
Congregational  Chinch  in  1S59. 

He  died  September  6,  1889,  aged  sixty-four  years.  He  lelt 
a  widow,  Hannah  W.  Cook,  and  six  children:  Mrs.  L.  C. 
Lord,  of  Moorhead,  Minn.  ;  W.  A.  Cook,  employed  by  Eagle 
Lock  Company  ;  O.  H.  Cook,  New  Britain,  Conn.  ;  Mrs.  A.  W. 
Thayer,  Palmer,  Mass.  ;  F.  T.  Cook,  druggist,  Terryville, 
Conn.  ;  Julia  F.  Cook,  Palmer,  Mass.  Mrs.  Lord  and  Mrs. 
Thayer  were  lor  a  number  of  years  teachers  in  the  primary 
school  here. 

JONATHAN    WALTER    POND. 

Jonathan  Walter  Pond  was  born  in  the  eastern  part  of 
Plymouth,  April  28,  1826,  in  the  house  subsequently  occupied 
for  many  years  by  Alexander  Pond.  His  father,  Philip  Pond, 
was  born  in  the  same  house  on  April  7,  177S.  He  left  Plymouth 
in  1831,  and  resided  in  western  New  York  until  1839,  when  he 
returned  to  Connecticut  and  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
Torrington,  where  he  died  in  January,  1855.  Jonathan  W. 
Pond,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  brought  up  on  a  farm  and 
received  the  ordinary  country  school  education,  supplemented 
by  two  winter  terms  of  three  months  each  in  Torrington  Academy. 
When  about  sixteen  years  old  he  went  to  live  in  Terryville  with 
his  brother-in-law,  the  elder  Eli  Terry,  where  he  remained  about 
three  years.  Later  he  went  to  Bristol  and  worked  at  clock 
making,  and  was  for  several  years  foreman  of  the  clock  move- 
ment department  of  Smith  &  Goodrich,  in  Forestville.  Li  1855 
he  removed  to  New  Haven  and  was  a  traveling  salesman  for 
Chauncey  Jerome,  then  in  the  clock  business.  In  186 1,  he  was 
appointed  by  a  non-partisan  board  of  police  commissioners,  chief 
of  the  New  Haven  police  department,  and  through  his  eflbrts 
the  officers  were  first  put  in  uniform.  He  has  been  engaged  in 
the  service  of  civil  process  in  New  Haven  County  as  constable 
or  deputy  sheriff  and  some  of  the  time  in  both  capacities  for 
upwards  of  thirty  years.  He  was  at  the  same  time  in  the  fire 
insurance  agency  business  in  New  Haven  twenty-four  years, 
and  was  for  seven  years  a  member  of  the  board  of  public  works 
of  New  Haven,  the  two  last  years  serving  as  president.  He  is  a 
member  of  St.  Thomas  Episcopal  Church  in  New  Haven  ;  also 
of  the  Order  of  Free  Masons;  of  the  Independent  Older  of  Odd 
Fellows,  and  was  grand  master  of  the  grand  lodge  of  Odd  Fellows 
of  Connecticut  in  1881-2,  and  represented  the  grand  lodge  of 
Connecticut  in  the  sovereign  grand  lodge  (formerlv  grand  lodge 
of  the  United  States)  at  its  annual  session  in  1882  and  1S83,  and 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Marshall  W.  Leach. 


%CPI    i»(f^- 


Jason  Clemence 


BIOGKAPHICAI.    SKETCHES.  279 

is  a   nicmher  of  the  Connecticut   Societ\-   of  "  Tlic  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution." 

He  has  a  wife  and  two  sons,  Walter  Poncl  and  Philip  Pond, 
both  graduates  of  Yale  University,  l)oth  Ia\v\ers  and  residing  in 
New  Haven. 

MAKSIIAI.E    W.     EEACII. 

Marshall  Welles  Leach  was  born  in  Torrington,  Conn., 
February  17,  1S54,  and  has  been  a  resident  of  Plymouth  for 
about  twenty-five  years.  He  is  a  descendant  of  John  Leche, 
who  came  from  England  in  the  fleet  with  the  Rev.  Francis 
Higginson  in  1639,  and  Sarah  Conant,  daughter  of  Roger 
Conant.  He  married,  December  13,  1877,  Julia  S.,  daughter 
of  .Strong  A.  Kelsey.  He  is  an  amateur  musician  of  some  taste, 
and  has  always  been  prominent  in  musical  and  literary  matters. 
During  his  twenty-five  years  here,  he  has  taken  a  lively  interest 
in  the  afiairs  and  well-being  of  the  community.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Congregational  Church,  in  which  he  fills  the  offices  of 
clerk  and  committeeman.  He  is  also  a  grand  juror,  justice  of 
the  peace,  and  a  prominent  member  of  the  board  of  school 
visitors.      He  is  also  an  Odd  Fellow. 

JASON    CEEMENCE. 

Jason  Clemence,  who  is  now  seventy-seven  years  old,  was 
born  in  Torrington,  this  State.  He  came  to  Terryville  in  1S40, 
to  work  for  H.  Welton  &  Co.,  the  clock  makers,  in  the  factory 
where  the  "Upper"  lock  shop  now  stands.  This  concern  made 
wooden  clocks  but  later  commenced  the  manufacture  of  brass 
time  pieces.  In  this  they  were  restrained  by  Chauncey  Jerome, 
of  New  Haven,  who  claimed  they  infringed  on  his  patent.  Eli 
Terry  was  then  appealed  to,  to  invent  a  movement  that  the 
Welton  concern  could  make.  This  he  did,  and  Mr.  Clemence 
was  set  to  work  to  make  the  model.  Uncle  Eli  would  watch  the 
progress  of  his  new  clock  and  tell  Mr.  Clemence  as  he  looked  in 
that  he  came  to  "respect"  his  work.  These  clocks  were  made 
until  the  company  failed,  when  as  the  last  work  was  being  done 
upon  them  in  one  end  of  the  building,  Lewis  &  Gaylord  began 
the  manufacture  of  locks  in  the  other  end.  From  clocks  to  locks 
(simply  dropping  the  c)  Mr.  Clemence  changed  and  he  has 
followed  the  trade  in  Tcrrvville  ever  since. 

Lie  was  married  to  Mary  Johnson,  September  28,  1842, 
who  died  June  11,  18^6,  to  whom  was  born  one  son,  Edwin,  in 
1S47.  ^^^  present  wife  was  Harriet  C.  Woodworth,  to  whom 
he  was  married  June  6,  1877- 

Mr.  Clemence  for  over  thirty  ^ears  was  usher  in  the  Terry- 
ville Congregational  Church  and  served  as  funeral  director  a  like 
number  of  years.  He  has  been  called  upon  to  watch  with  the 
sick  time  upon  time,  and  during  the  terrible  epidemic  about 
1S42,  watched  constantly  for  six  months.  His  services  were 
always  given  freely  both  as  watcher  and  funeral  director,  and  on 
only  few  occasions  did  he  accept  anv  compensation. 


2So 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Augustus  Von  Martensen. 


v'  V 


-4.      ^        --^ 


Mrs.  Rosina  Martensen. 


HKXJKAriUCAL    SKETCHliS.  2S1 

TEHRY\II.I.li's    I'lKST    GERMAN     lA.MlIA'. 

The  first  Geiinaii  iamil\  to  moxc  into  Tcnyville  was  that  ol 
Johaiin  Peter  Scheumg.  I'liis  was  brought  about  by  Aiuhew 
Terry,  who  made  periodical  trips  to  New  York  to  hire  emigrants 
to  work  in  his  foundry,  as  but  few  it"  any  of  the  local  residents 
understood  the  art  of  iron  moulding.  This  was  in  1S50. 
Mr.  Scheuing  took  up  his  residence  in  the  double  house  known 
as  the  Captain  Bunnell  place,  where  his  wife  kept  a  boarding 
house  lor  other  emigrant  employes.  Their  son,  Louis,  was  the 
first  child  born  of  German  parents  in  the  village. 

Mr.  Scheuing,  born  in  Halle,  Wurtemburg,  Germany,  182J, 
came  to  America  in  1847,  enlistetl  private  in  United  States  Army 
from  Governor's  Island,  N.  Y.,  April  13,  1847,  saw  active  ser- 
vice in  Mexican  War,  and  after  terrible  sufiering  and  hardships 
his  health  was  shattered,  and  on  the  15th  of  October,  1S48,  at 
New  Orleans,  he  received  an  honorable  discharge.  He  returned 
to  Germany  to  recover  his  health  and  the  next  year  married 
Rosina  Seitz,  returned  to  America  and  after  some  months'  resi- 
dence in  New  York  Citv,  came  to  Terry ville.  His  health,  how- 
ever, had  been  completely  undermined,  and  after  a  shoit 
residence  he  was  allowed  to  enter  the  hospital  at  Blackwell's 
Island,  N.  Y.,  where  he  died  August  14,  1S54,  aged  thirty-two 
years,  leaving  a  widow,  two  sons  and  a  daughter.  By  keeping 
boarders  the  widow  had  managed  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door 
until  March  39,  185^,  when  she  became  the  wife  of  Augustus 
Von  Martensen,  who  was  born  in  Kiel,  Denmark,  May  5,  1822, 
of  a  distinguished  family.  When  a  boy  he  was  sent  to  the  best 
schools  and  became  a  fine  linguist.  His  parents  wished  him  to 
study  medicine  but  he  entered  the  German  army,  won  several 
medals  for  proficiency,  finally  participated  in  the  revolution  of 
Schleswig  Holstein  and  with  many  others  of  his  co-patiiots 
escaped  to  America.  Having  friends  in  Bristol  he  visited  them 
and  shortly  after  found  employment  at  the  lock  factory  at  Terry- 
ville,  where  he  was  employed  six  years,  incidentally  giving 
German  lessons  and  teaching  fencing  as  opportunity  oflered. 
When  the  war  of  the  rebellion  commenced  Mr.  Von  ISIartensen 
went  to  Waterbury  to  enlist  and  though  the  company  had  then  a 
full  quota  of  men,  the  captain,  attracted  by  his  soldierly  bearing, 
gladlv  enrolled  him  in  the  ranks.  This  company  was  a  part  of 
the  1st  Connecticut  three  months'  Volunteers,  enlisting  April  22, 
1S61,  and  mustering  out  Julv  31,  i86r.  They  participated  in 
the  disastrous  first  battle  of  Bull  Run  after  the  term  of  their 
enlistment  had  expired.  Mr.  Martensen  was  the  first  man  in 
Plymouth  to  enlist,  and  A.  M.  Blakesley,  cashier  of  the  Water- 
burv  bank,  a  native  of  Terryville,  presented  him  with  a  handsome 
revolver  in  recognition  of  his  patriotism.  Upon  his  return,  after 
a  few  days  spent  with  his  family,  in  August  1861,  he  re-enlisted 
for  three  years  at  Hartford  as  a  corporal  in  the  cavalry  service, 
and  with  other  Connecticut  men  (and  among  them  was  Dorence 
Atwater,  of  Terrvville),  thev  were  attached  to  the  2d  New  York 
Cavalry,  Colonel  Judson  Kilpatrick's  regiment,  afterward  called 


2S2 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Louis  C.  Scheuing. 


Julius  G.  Beach. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES.  283 

the  Ilunis  Light  Cavalry,  and  became  a  part  of  McClelhm's 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  In  this  service  lie  saw^  daily  skirmishing 
and  lighting,  participated  in  several  battles  and  was  promoted  to 
a  2d  lientcnantcy.  At  Aldie,  Va.,  the  advancing  army  came 
upon  some  rebel  sharpsliooters  lying  behind  haystacks.  His 
company  were  ordered  to  dislodge  them,  and  in  the  charge  ist 
Lieutenant  Whitaker  and  2d  Lieutenant  Martensen  were  both 
fatally  shot  from  their  horses,  and  lived  but  a  few  hours.  The 
bodies  were  brought  to  Hartford  by  General  Whitaker,  and  the 
body  of  Lieutenant  INLirtensen  was  given  honorable  burial  in 
Terryville  ;  funeral  services  were  held  at  the  church  and  attended 
by  a  large  concourse  of  sympathetic  townspeople,  the  late  Rev. 
Dr.  Griggs  officiating. 

Mrs.  Rosina  Martensen  was  a  widow  a  second  time  with  a 
family  of  six  children,  the  youngest  barely  three  years  old,  the 
oldest  but  thirteen  years.  She  was  left  destitute,  but  with  a 
courage  born  of  despair,  she  labored  early  and  late  to  support 
and  educate  them.  They  grew  up  to  be  a  credit  to  their 
mother's  devotion  and  fortitude.  The  eldest  son,  William 
vScheuing,  removed  from  Terryville  to  Kansas  in  1S70,  engaged 
in  farming  until  1SS8,  his  health  failing  he  went  to  Florida  and 
afterwards  to  Colorado.  The  second  son,  Louis  C.  Scheuing, 
left  Terryville  for  W^aterbury,  Conn.,  in  1866,  where  he  spent  a 
few  months  in  a  store  as  clerk,  then  worked  on  a  farm  and  went 
to  school  winters  at  Northfield,  and  after  another  year's  exper- 
ience in  a  store  in  Waterbury,  removed  to  Springfield,  Mass., 
where  after  working  at  farming  and  in  the  freight  office  of  the 
N.  Y.,  N.  H.  &  H.  R.  R.  for  nine  years,  the  opportunity  was 
offered  to  enter  a  manufacturing  enterprise.  He  is  now  secretary 
of  the  National  Papeterie  Company,  a  director  in  several  other 
enterprises,  extensively  engaged  in  real  estate,  and  is  closely 
identified  with  religious  work  and  in  musical  circles.  In 
the  year  187^  he  induced  his  mother,  brother,  and  sisters  to 
remove  to  Springfield,  where  with  the  exception  of  the  eldest 
son  William  (who  died  in  Colorado  in  1891  and  is  buried  in 
Springfield)  the  children  are  all  living  at  present,  pleasantly 
and  happily  located.  Louis  is  unmarried  and  resitles  with  his 
mother;  Mary  Scheuing  is  the  wife  of  F.  P.  Cheever,  of 
Springfield;  Augusta  Martensen  is  the  wife  of  O.  B.  Brockett, 
messenger  of  the  County  Court  House ;  Carl  F.  Martensen  is 
married,  and  agent  for  the  Boston  Condensed  Milk  Company, 
for  Springfield  and  vicinity  ;  Rosa  Martensen  is  unmarried,  and 
clerk  in  Register  of  Deeds  office,  and  resides  with  her  mother. 

Mrs.  IVIartensen  is  still  in  the  enjoyment  of  good  health, 
conscious  that  she  did  what  she  could  for  her  country  in  its  hour 
of  need,  and  feels  grateful  to  the  people  of  Terryville  for  the 
many  acts  of  kindness  and  assistance  rendered  her. 

JULIUS    G.    BEACH. 

One  of  the  old  carriage  makers  that  the  old  residents  will 
recall  was  Lyman  Beach,  who  was  born  in  Plymouth,  April  3, 
1807.     Of   his  early  life  the  writer  has   little   knowledge.     On 


2S4 


HISTOUV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


James  Hunter. 


J.  B.  Baldwin. 


HlOGKAI'llICAI.    SKKTCIIKS.  285 

September  4,  1S33,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Phebe  Griggs, 
to  wliom  were  born  four  chiUlren,  Ilobart  L.,  Calvin  D.,  Celia 
A.,  and  Julius  G.  His  homestead  was  situated  on  the  road 
going  north  bv  the  Andrew  Hawkins  place  and  the  first  house 
above  the  Hawkins  homestead.  He  was  a  carriage  wood  worker 
and  was  employed  by  Cooley  &  Bradley — Comstock  &  Bishop 
succeetled  Cooley  <S:  Bradley — and  he  continued  in  their  employ. 
September  S,  1S4S,  his  wife  died.  The  family  remained  at  the 
old  home,  a  housekeeper  being  employed,  and  in  the  spring  of 
1S50  Mr.  Beach  married  for  his  second  wife  Lucinda  Comstock. 
On  jVIay  15,  1851,  after  a  long  and  painful  illness,  he  died,  and 
the  old  home  was  sold  to  Isaac  Shelton. 

The  son,  Julius  G.,  was  about  eleven  years  old  when  this 
occurred  and  from  that  time  imtil  he  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
drifted  from  one  occupation  to  another,  some  of  the  time  on  a 
farm,  one  voyage  to  sea  (China)  and  two  years  or  more  in  the 
factory.  In  the  spring  of  1861,  when  he  was  twenty,  the  civil 
war  broke  out.  He  responded  to  the  call,  going  to  the  front 
with  the  2(1  Regiment  Connecticut  Volunteers,  three  months' 
troops.  When  this  term  of  service  expired  he  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany F,  7th  Regiment  Connecticut  Volunteers,  serving  until  the 
close  of  the  war,  was  mustered  out  as  ist  sergeant,  and  shortly 
afterwards  received  an  honorary  commission  from  the  governor. 
In  1864,  while  home  on  a  veteran  furlough,  he  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Anna  M.  Alills,  a  New  Haven  lady,  and  after 
his  discharge  from  the  army,  up  to  the  present  time,  has  resided 
in  New  Haven,  and  for  the  past  twenty-eight  years  has  been  in 
the  employ  of  Peck  Bros.  &  Co.,  and  for  the  past  fifteen  years 
holding  the  position  of  foreman  of  a  department  with  prospects 
of  remaining. 

JAMES     HUNTER. 

James  Hunter  was  born  in  Glenluce,  Scotland,  October  3, 
181 2,  the  eldest  of  nine  children.  He  was  brought  up  by  his 
maternal  grandfiither,  James  Hanna,  at  Stranraer,  in  the  south- 
west extremity  of  that  country.  This  grandfather  had  acquiretl 
a  competence  as  a  planter  in  Jamaica.  His  paternal  grandfather 
resided  at  Girvan,  thirty  miles  distant  from  Stranraer  The 
calling  of  this  grandfather  was  that  of  a  stone  mason.  He  ful- 
filled in  his  home,  at  the  close  of  each  day,  the  description  in 
Burns'  exquisite  poem,  "The  Cotter's  vSaturday  Night," — 

"The  siie  turns  o'er  wV  patriarchal  grace. 
The  big  ha'  Bible  (hall  Bible)  ance  his  father's  pride  ; 

*  *  *  *  ■::;  *  * 

He  wales  (selects)  a  portion  with  judicious  care. 

And,  '  Let  us  worship  God,'  he    says,  with  solemn  air." 

The  home  at  Stranraer  was  a  stone  house  of  two  stories, 
with  a  slate  roof.  The  floor  of  the  hall,  which  extended  through 
the  house,  and  that  of  the  kitchen,  were  flagged  with  stone. 
The  sea  w^is  only  a  few  rods  away.  His  parents  having  emi- 
grated to   Canada  some  years  before,  in    1S29  the  son   followed 


286  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

them.  Mr.  Hunter  accompanied  them  in  a  subsequent  removal 
to  the  United  States.  They  found  a  home  in  Saratoga,  N.  Y. 
From  that  place  the  son  started  out  to  seek  labor  and  subsistence 
for  himself.  And  so  it  was  that,  as  he  journeyed  afoot  into 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  he  cam,e  at  length,  bundle  in 
hand,  to  Terryville.  This  was  in  1834.  The  first  person  he 
saw  and  spoke  with  was  a  little  girl  about  four  years  of  age,  the 
daughter  of  Eli  Terry,  Jr.,  who  was  playing  in  the  road  in  front 
of  the  house.  She  is  now  Mrs.  Merrill  Richardson.  She 
directed  him  to  her  father's  clock  shop  just  below.  Going  into 
the  shop  he  met  Warren  Goodwin.  Mr.  Terry  was  absent. 
While  waiting  for  the  return  of  Mr.  Terry,  in  the  lack  of  a 
tavern  nearer  than  Plymouth,  Mr.  Goodwin  took  him  home  with 
himself,  and  he  spent  the  first  night  in  Terryville  in  the  house 
which  afterwards  became  his  own  home  for  many  years,  and  in 
which  at  last  he  departed  this  life.  Mr.  Terry  did  not  hire  him, 
and  he  applied  for  employment  at  the  lock  shop  just  started,  the 
proprietors  of  which  were  John  C.  Lewis  and  Wm.  E.  McKee. 
He  found  Mr.  McKee  in  his  garden,  who  asked  him  many 
questions,  and  then  conducted  him  to  the  shop  where  he  had  an 
interview  with  Mr.  Lewis  also,  which  was  continued  at  the 
village  store  belonging  to  the  same  concern.  After  the  proprie- 
tors had  consulted  aside,  Mr.  Lewis  said  to  him  they  wanted  to 
hire  men,  but  only  such  men  as  would  be  a  help  in  the  com- 
munity, good  citizens  to  build  up  the  community.  Thereupon 
Mr.  Hunter  produced  his  church  certificate  issued  to  him  by  his 
pastor,  Rev.  Wm.  Taylor,  pastor  of  the  First  United  Secession 
Church  of  Montreal.  That  was  suflicient.  They  hired  him  for 
a  year  at  $100  and  board.  The  price  of  board  was  then  about 
$i.c;o  a  week.  The  firm  settled  with  their  help  at  the  end  of  the 
year.  Meanwhile  it  was  difficult  to  get  much  money  from  them 
at  a  time.  While  they  used  no  compulsion  upon  their  hands  to 
trade  at  their  store,  they  wished  them  to  do  so,  engaging  to 
furnish  goods  as  cheap  and  of  as  good  quality  as  could  be 
obtained  anywhere.  The  first  vSabbath  Mr.  Hiuiter  began  the 
practice  always  maintained,  of  attendance  at  church,  walking  in 
those  days,  as  did  many  others,  to  Plymoutli.  At  the  same 
time  he  joined  the  Bible  class  taught  (probably)  by  Dr.  Potter. 

Becoming  thus  a  resident  of  Terryville,  Mr.  Hunter  con- 
tinued such  until  the  end  of  his  long,  useful  and  happy  life,  with 
the  exception  of  the  period  from  1843  to  1S56,  during  which  his 
home  was  in  Sharon,  Conn. 

He  married,  October  18,  1S37,  M'^s  Rhoda  Swift,  grand- 
daughter of  General  Heman  Swift  of  Revolutionary  fame,  and 
of  tlie  seventh  generation  from  William  vSwift,  wlio  settled  at 
Watertown,  Mass..  1630.  Their  children  were  Swift  McGregor, 
born  in  Sharon,  Conn.,  December  i,  1838;  Mary  Elizabeth, 
born  in  Sharon,  Conn.,  Mav  19,  1842  ;  Elizabeth  Swift,  born  In 
Sharon,  Conn.,  March  28,  1844. 

Swift  ]\IcG.  was  married  January  i,  1868,  to  Mary  M.  Swift, 
who  died  November  i^,  1871.  He  was  a  volunteer  soldier  in 
the    war  for  tlie  Union,  being  a  member  of  the    2(1   Connecticut 


BIOGKAIMUC'AL    SKl':'l  CI  I  I'.S.  2S7 

Regiment  of  Heavy  Artillery,  in  which  service  he  received  a 
wound,  resulting  at  last  in  his  death,  after  a  lingering  illness,  in 
1S73.  Two  daughters  of  Swift  McG.  Hunter  reside  in  Terry- 
villa.  The  elder  daughter  of  James  Hunter  is  the  wife  of 
Charles  .S.  Smith,  of  East  Plymouth.  The  younger  daughter 
died  April  5,  1S66. 

Mr.  Hunter  was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church  of  Terry ville,  organized  in  1838,  joining  by 
letter  from  the  church  oi  Plymouth.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
standing  committee  of  the  church  for  many  years,  and  for  five 
yeai"s  was  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School.  The  high 
regard  in  which  he  was  held  by  his  fellow  citizens,  and  the  con- 
fidence they  reposed  in  him  is  manifest  in  the  fact  that  he  was 
many  times  elected  to  the  responsible  ofiices  of  grand  juror  and 
justice  of  the  peace.  He  died  April  i,  1891,  his  wife  surviving 
him.      She  died  June  25,  1S95. 

True  to  his  early  training,  James  Hunter  was  always  a  man 
of  integrity,  a  supporter  and  an  advocate  of  good  things,  espec- 
ially of  the  cause  of  temperance.  Of  unquestionable  piety,  most 
impressive,  sometimes  sublime,  in  prayer,  he  was  also  of  a 
remarkably  merry  disposition.  Recollections  of  his  droll  humor, 
uttered  in  the  brogue  of  Scotland,  and  breaking  forth  from  his 
familiar  countenance  all  aglow  with  merriment,  will  long  recur 
with  cheering  effect  to  those  who  knew  him. 

JAMES    BURGESS    BALDWIN. 

James  Burgess  Baldwin  was  born  September  14,  1S46,  just 
outside  the  limits  of  Goshen,  Conn.,  and  ever  regarded  Goshen 
as  his  native  town.  He  was  the  son  of  Junius  and  Julia 
(Hallock)  Baldwin.  He  was  also,  it  may  be  truly  said,  a 
typical  son  of  New  England  and  of  Connecticut.  For  he  had 
an  honorable  pride  in  the  region  of  his  birth,  her  people  and  her 
traditions.  And  he  was  endowed  by  nature  with  that  aptitude 
for  mechanic  art  which,  diffused  among  the  people  of  Connecti- 
cut, has  given  the  state  leadership  in  the  Union  in  inventive 
production,  dotting  her  territory  in  generations  gone  with  the 
little  shops  of  local  artisans,  and  through  the  growth  and  the 
massing  of  capital  creating  in  later  times  the  great  manufactories 
existing  in  such  numbers,  and  pouring  out  such  a  variety  of 
articles  of  use  and  of  beauty  at  the  present  day.  The  popular 
vehicle  known  as  the  spindle  buggy,  was  first  made  by  Mr. 
Baldwin.  The  idea  originating  with  him  was  taken  up  by 
others,  and  has  become  a  source  of  profit  to  many.  Possessed 
also  of  the  artistic  sense  and  skill,  he  found  pleasure  in  painting 
pictures  which  he  produced  with  facility  for  his  own  gratifica- 
tion and  that  of  his  friends,  and  sometimes  to  meet  the  demands 
of  his  business. 

Mr.  Baldwin  became  a  resident  of  Terry  ville  in  1876, 
locating  here  to  prosecute  his  calling  of  general  blacksmithing. 
In  addition  to  other  qualifications  for  this  employment,  he  was 
marked  to  an  unusual  degree  bv  an  intelligent  interest  in  that 


j8S 


lIISrOKV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


George  H.  Plumb. 


Gaius  Fenn  Warner. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES.  2S9 

noble  animal,  the  horse,  and  by  judgment  in  the  treatment  ol"  the 
same.  Relincjuishing  after  some  years  the  heavier  work  of  his 
trade,  ISIr.  Baldwin  was  occupied  subsequent!)-  with  the  manu- 
facture and  repair  of  vehicles,  and  with  the  ])ublic  duties  devolv- 
ing upon  him  as  a  civil  otlicer.  Pie  was  appointed  postmaster 
of  Terry ville  by  President  Harrison  in  1890,  and  held  the 
appointment  at  the  time  when  he  was  smitten  with  fatal  sickness. 
His  administration  of  this  responsible  office  met  with  the  general 
approval  of  the  community. 

A  faithful  and  active  member  of  the  Congregational  Church 
of  Terryville,  he  was  for  seven  years  superintendent  of  its  large 
and  flourishing  Sunday  School,  concerning  which  it  should  be 
said,  that  for  vigor  and  usefulness  as  an  auxiliary  in  the  work  of 
the  church,  the  Sunday  School  of  Terryville  is  surpassed 
probably  by  but  few  similar  institutions  in  corresponding  com- 
munities in  the  land. 

Air.  Baldwin  was  married,  IVIay  7,  1S6S,  to  Martha  Eugenia, 
youngest  daughter  of  George  Merriman,  of  Litchfield,  Conn., 
a  lady  of  uncommon  sweetness  and  beauty  of  disposition  and 
character.  Children  were  born  to  them  as  follows  :  Carlisle 
Hodges,  born  in  Torrington,  Conn.,  June  35,  1S70;  Ralph 
Merriman,  born  in  Torrington,  Conn.,  June  17,  1S74;  Ernest 
Elmore,  born  in  Torrington,  Conn.,  November  11,  1875;  all  of 
whom  survive  their  parents.  Two  of  the  sons  occupy  positions 
of  responsibility  in  the  office  of  the  Eagle  Lock  Company, 
Terryville,  the  eldest  as  estimate  clerk,  and  the  youngest  as  pay- 
master. The  second  son  is  perfecting  himself  as  an  instructor  in 
penmanship,  thus  developing  an  inherited  artistic  taste  and  skill. 

The  death  of  Air.  Baldwin  was  attended  with  circumstances 
investing  it  with  an  extremely  pathetic  and  tragic  interest. 
The  father  of  Mrs.  Baldwin,  passing  the  winter  in  the  home, 
having  reached  the  age  of  ninety-four  years,  was  taken  sick  and 
died  February  19,  1S94.  While  he  was  vet  ill,  fatal  disease 
fastened  upon  his  daughter.  The  prostration  of  the  wife  was 
soon  followed  by  that  of  her  husband,  Mr.  Baldwin.  She  died 
Februarv  21  ;  five  days  later  he  departed  this  life,  February  26, 
1S94.      Husband  and  wife  were  buried  in  one  grave. 

Mr.  Baldwin  was  a  man  of  vivacious  spirit,  cheerful  and 
cordial,  affectionate  in  his  relations  to  his  family,  patriotic  in  his 
regard  for  his  country,  a  warm  co-worker  in  matters  of  public 
interest,  both  religious  and  secular,  a  citizen  respected  and 
valued,  a  pleasant  and  beloved  friend. 

GEORGE    H.    PLUMB. 

George  H.  Plumb,  son  of  Samuel  and  Sarah  Scarritt  Plumb, 
was  born  in  Wolcott,  Conn.,  October  15,  1S13,  died  in  Terry- 
ville, August  18,  1 891. 

In  his  early  life  he  traveled  extensively  in  the  Southern 
States  and  was  one  of  the  "  Yankee  clock  peddlers"  who  earned 
Connecticut  a  reputation  for  shrewdness  and  who  were  known 
throughout  the  country  more  than  half  a  century  ago.     On  each 


290  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

trip  he  took  with  him  a  wagon  load  of  clocks  from  Plymouth 
where  they  were  then  manufactured,  retailing  them  in  exchange 
for  cash  or  whatever  he  could  get  in  the  line  of  produce. 
Though  possessing  the  shrewdness  of  the  typical  "  Yankee 
clock  peddler,"  he  was  a  man  of  sterling  honesty  and  was  highly 
respected  in  the  place  where  he  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life. 

He  was  married  May  3,  1840,  to  Deidamia  Minor,  of 
Wolcott,  by  whom  he  had  three  children,  Newell  M.,  Wallace 
G.,  and  Elsie  J.  Plumb,  the  only  surviving  one  being  Wallace 
G.  Plumb.  He  moved  to  Terry vi lie  in  January,  1S41,  to  work 
for  H.  Welton  &  Co.,  in  the  clock  shop,  where  he  was  employed 
until  his  health  failed,  when  he  removed  to  his  farm  on  Fall 
Mountain  in  the  town  of  Bristol.  He  lived  there  ten  years, 
afterwards  returning  to  Terryville  where  he  resided  until  his 
death. 

He  was  a  contractor  in  the  Eagle  Lock  Co,  for  fifteen  years, 
being  associated  with  Ira  H.  Stoughton.  He  joined  the  Con- 
gregational Church  in  1843,  and  was  an  active  worker,  serving 
on  the  standing  committee  until  compelled  by  old  age  to  retire 
from  the  service.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Plumb  celebrated  their  golden 
wedding  May  3,  1S90. 

GAIUS    FENN    WARNER. 

John  Warner,  who  was  captain  in  the  Connecticut  State 
Guards — assisting  in  the  defense  of  the  sea  coasts  in  General 
Waterbury's  State  Brigade  in  17S1,  and  for  whom  the  long  hill 
between  Plymouth  and  the  township  now  known  as  Thomaston, 
was  for  many  years  named,  was  the  father  of  John  Warner,  Jr., 
grandfather  of  Abijah  Warner  and  great-grandfather  of  Gains 
Fenn  Warner,  who  was  born  in  the  town  of  Plymouth  in  that 
part  known  as  Town  Hill  in  181 1;  his  mother,  Betsy  Fenn, 
being  a  sister  of  Elam  Fenn,  who  lived  and  died  where  his  son 
Jason  Fenn  now  lives.  He  was  the  youngest  of  three  children, 
but  six  years  of  age  when  his  father  died.  His  boyhood  and 
early  manhood  were  passed  in  his  mother's  home,  until  when  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one  he  married  Harriet  Jackson,  of  Bethlehem, 
Conn.,  and  directly  they  settled  in  their  own  home,  near  that  of 
his  mother,  a  little  to  the  south  on  the  same  road.  Here  he 
worked  a  small  farm  for  about  three  years,  when  he  moved  to 
Waterville,  to  take  charge  of  a  large  boarding  house  for  the 
emploves  of  a  button  factory  there. 

His  two  daughters,  Helen  and  Harriet,  were  boin  during 
his  residence  in  Plymouth,  his  son,  Henry,  in  Waterville. 
During  the  two  years  of  the  boarding  house  experiment,  he  built 
for  himself  a  commodious  house,  into  which  he  moved,  when  he 
again  took  up  a  small  farm  and  also  liad  charge  of  the  turn- 
pike road  between  Waterbury  and  Plymouth,  but  evidently, 
farming  was  not  to  his  mind,  for  in  1843  he  went  back  to  the 
town  of  Plymouth,  the  eastern  part  of  it,  called  Terryville. 
Here  he  kept  a  temperance  hotel,  a  novel  idea  at  that  time,  but 
which  he  maintained  in  spite  of  all  opposition,  at  the  same  time 


BIOGUAPHICAL    SKETCHES.  39I 

carrying  on,  in  an  extended  ell  of  his  house,  the  manufacture  of 
umbrellas.  It  was  during  these  years  that  the  Congregational 
Church  was  built  in  the  village,  and  into  this  enterprise  he  threw 
his  superb  energies  and  strength.  He  hauled  much  of  the  timber 
from  the  woods  to  the  mill,  from  there  to  the  lot  whereon  the 
church  was  to  be  erected,  and  was  like  a  young  giant  on  the 
"Raising  Day"  of  the  building  when  "all  the  town"  turned  out 
to  help;  afterwards  all  were  served,  as  was  the  custom  of  the 
day,  to  doughnuts,  raised  cake  and  cider. 

It  was  not  until  about  the  year  1847  that  lie  found  his  busi- 
ness life-work,  when  at  his  entertainment  at  his  house  as  hotel, 
he  met  a  man  who  was  in  the  manufacturing  business  of  mallea- 
ble iron  castings,  and  who  so  urged  him  to  also  enter  this  work, 
that  at  last  he  decided  to  return  with  him  to  Straitsville  and 
investigate  for  himself.  He  soon  moved  his  family  there,  where 
he  so  well  succeeded,  that  when  the  buildings  were  burned  to 
the  ground,  he  removed  the  works  to  New  Haven,  many  of  the 
principal  workmen  going  with  him.  At  that  time,  Straitsville, 
a  very  small  village,  had  no  regular  church  services,  which 
Mr.  Warner  so  deplored,  that  very  soon  after  his  removal  there 
he  made  arrangements  whereby  theological  students  from  New 
Haven  should  preach  in  the  small  chapel  each  Sunday  for  the 
sum  of  ten  dollars  and  their  board.  His  house  was  freely  opened 
for  their  accommodation,  and  very  often  the  compensation  was 
also  largely  given  from  his  own  pocket.  In  this  iron  business  he 
had  the  monopoly  and  made  it  the  largest  concern  of  its  kind  in 
the  country.  As  he  grew  in  prosperity,  he  was  ever  ready  to 
respond  to  the  numerous  calls  for  benevolence,  both  public  and 
private,  notably  of  them  was  that  of  Home  and  Foreign 
Alissions,  that  of  Home  Missions  growing  stronger  each  year  of 
his  life.  He  was  a  man  of  few  words — while  ever  friendly — to 
those  who  were  so  fortunate  as  to  possess  his  love  and  confidence, 
he  showed  a  true  and  loyal  heart,  to  be  relied  upon  in  any 
extremity.  In  his  family  he  was  the  faithful  husband,  the 
kindest  of  fathers,  and  his  house  was  ever  open  to  all  his  friends. 
In  the  year  iSSo  he  decided  to  build  a  house  for  himself,  and 
chose  a  lot  of  one  and  one-half  acres  in  the  center  of  the  city 
opposite  Yale  College,  where  he  erected  the  substantial  house, 
now  occupied  as  the  Republican  League  building,  in  the  rear  of 
which  is  now  the  Hyperion  Theatre,  and  on  the  western  side  of 
the  lot  Warner  Hall  and  the  apartment  building  for  students, 
erected  and  managed  by  his  son  Henry  A.  Warner. 

It  was  characteristic  of  him,  when  questioned  quite 
anxiously  by  a  member  of  the  college  faculty,  as  to  his  venture 
to  so  carefully  lay  out  this  acre  and  more  of  ground,  stocking  it 
with  fruit  trees,  graperies,  and  ornamental  shrubs,  lest  he  should 
sufter  from  the  invasion  of  the  mischievous  bovs  of  the  college, 
he  replied  "I  shall  not  molest  them  and  I  don't  think  thev  will 
trouble  me,"  and  they  never  did.  After  moving  to  his  new 
home,  he  gave  his  best  Christian  efforts  to  the  welfare  of  the 
College  Street  Church,  which  building  joined  his  land  on  the 
eastern  side,  and  was  an  earnest  helper  and  exemplarv  member 


293 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Junius  Preston. 


Henr\'  A.  Minor. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES.  293 

until  his  death  in  October,  1S90.  He  died  as  he  had  li\cd,  in 
lull  trust  and  laitli  in  his  vSavior  and  God,  since  when  in  his  early 
manhood,  he  with  his  young  wife  united  with  the  church  in 
Plymouth  Center,  during  a  strong  religious  movement  through- 
out the  country  in  1S37. 

AUl.    AND    ^^{S.   JUNIUS    PRESTON. 

Junius  Preston  and  wife,  who  live  near  East  Church,  are 
probably  the  oldest  couple  in  Plymouth,  they  having  passed 
sixty  years  of  married  life  together,  fifty  of  which  has  been  spent 
in  the  house  where  they  now  reside.  Mr.  Preston  is  eighty-three 
years  old  and  Mrs.  Preston  is  seventy-eight.  They  are  still 
active  and  do  their  own  farm  work.  Mr.  Preston  in  early  life 
was  the  owner  of  the  grist  mill  in  East  Church,  which  he  con- 
ducted for  ten  years,  but  was  better  known  as  the  sexton  of  the 
old  graveyard.  This  he  attended  to  for  forty-two  years,  filling 
the  place  made  vacant  by  his  father,  who  was  in  charge  twenty- 
four  years,  making  a  total  of  sixty-six  years  that  it  was  looked 
after  by  father  and  son.  Three  children  w-ere  born  to  them, 
Mrs.  Wallace  Pardee,  who  lives  near  by ;  Mrs.  A.  J.  Hotchkiss, 
of  Middletown ;  and  Almeron  Preston,  of  New  Britain. 
Mr.  Preston  has  not  been  out  of  the  State  in  fifty  years,  or  away 
from  home  over  night  in  all  that  time.  He  has  patronized  the 
steam  railroads  but  little,  and  has  never  seen  or  ridden  on  an 
electric  car. 

HENRY    A.    MINOR. 

Henry  A.  Minor,  son  of  Henry  J.  Minor,  of  Woodbury, 
Conn.,  and  Nancy  J.  Mather,  of  Plymouth,  was  born  in  Ply- 
mouth, April  15,  1S43,  and  educated  at  Williston  Seminary, 
Easthampton,  Mass.  He  married  Anna  L.  Woodford,  of  Avon, 
Conn.,  October  14,  1874,  and  has  two  children,  Maurice  W., 
born  April  3,  1878,  and  Judson  M.,  born  July  6,  18S2.  His 
wife  died  March  6,  1S91.  He  was  employed  with  the  Seth 
Thomas  Clock  Company  three  years  and  the  New  Haven  Clock 
Company  two  years.  He  then  entered  the  employ  of  the  New 
York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad  Coinpany,  where  he  is 
still  employed  in  the  accounting  department  of  the  general  ofiice. 

EMMA   J.    MINOR. 

Emma  J.  Minor,  a  sister  of  Henry  A.  Minor,  was  born 
October  19,  184S,  was  educated  in  Hartford  at  T.  W.  T.  Curtis's 
Young  Ladies'  Seminary,  and  married,  June  3,  1S6S,  to  George 
T.  Bradlev,  of  the  firm  of  Benedict  &  Co.,  coal  merchants,  New 
Haven.  Their  children  are  Milton  Hobert,  born  April  S,  1871  ; 
Walter  Minor,  born  April  14,  1873;  ]\Iabel  Daskam,  born 
August  13,  1S78. 

JEREMIAH     MARKHAM. 

Jeremiah  Alarkham,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in 
Enfield,  Conn.,  January  20,  1734.      He  was  the  son  of  Jeremiah 


294  HISTORY    OF    PI.VMOUTH. 

and  Sarah  (Meacham)  ]Markham,  his  father  being  the  grandson 
of  Deacon  Daniel  Markham,  a  brother  of  the  INIayor  (1664)  of 
Norwich,  County  Norfolk,  England.  The  deacon  arrived  in 
Cambridge  in  1665,  and  in  Middletown,  Conn.,  in  1676,  wliere 
he  received  the  greater  part  of  the  estate  of  his  father-in-law, 
William  Harris,  while  the  latter  went  to  England  in  behalf  of 
the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  as  agent  for  a  charter. 

On  this  estate  generations  were  born  and  raised,  Jeremiah 
being  brought  to  it  when  only  five  years  of  age.  Here  he  learned 
his  trade  of  blacksmith,  and  here  were  all  his  children  born. 
Amy  married  John  Driggs  of  Middletown,  and  died  in  Peru, 
Mass.,  they  had  five  daughters;  Jeremiah  learned  his  father's 
trade  and  bought  back  the  shop  at  Middletown,  he  had  married 
Sally  Clark  and  they  had  seven  children,  six  sons  and  one 
daughter ;  Hester  married  Obadiah  Bowe ;  John  married 
Almira  Holly,  aunt  of  "  Josiah  Allen's  wife,"  and  had  five 
children,  three  sons  and  two  daughters ;  ol  Levi's  children, 
Maria  married  Willard  Brooks,  whose  sons,  Silas  and  George 
became  celebrated  as  aeronauts  ;  Nancy  married  Capt.  Mark  J. 
Bronson  ;  Apollos  married  Lucy  C.  Griswold,  daughter  of  Capt. 
Francis  Griswold,  and  was  surveyor  for  Litchfield  County  for 
some  years;  Levi  D.  married  Eliza  M.  Lackey;  Rhoda  married 
Daniel  Potter  of  Plymouth  ;  Sarah  married  Levi  Scott  and  had 
two  sons,  Riley  and  Markham  Scott ;  Lydia  married  Luther 
Downs  and  went  to  Armenia,  N.  Y. 

In  1797  he  had  purchased  two  hundred  acres  of  land  in  the 
wild  west  of  Connecticut,  being  the  grant  to  Rev.  Ichabod  Camp, 
in  payment  for  services  as  chaplain  in  the  Revolutionary  Army, 
and  in  this  year  he  went  there  to  live,  and  built  a  blacksmith's 
shop.  He  is  said  to  have  forged  knife  blades  equal  to  the 
English.  To  this  tract  were  added  two  hundred  acres  by  son 
and  grandson,  so  that  the  homestead  comprised  at  one  time  four 
hundred  acres  of  rugged  land  in  the  southern  part  of  Plymouth. 
The  original  house  in  which  Jeremiah  lived  and  died  is  still 
standing  on  the  Waterbury  road  on  the  southwest  corner  of  the 
lane,  leading  to  the  site  of  another  house  to  the  west,  there  being 
until  recently  still  another  to  the  south  on  the  same  lot,  and  to 
one  of  these,  the  eldest  son,  Jeremiah,  Jr.,  removed  two  years 
later  with  his  wife  and  two  very  young  children,  John  and 
Oliver.  'Tis  said  these  baby  boys  were  slung  one  on  either  side 
of  a  horse  in  a  saddle  bag  and  followed  the  family  procession 
from  Middletown  to  Plymouth,  whiling  away  the  time  by  an- us- 
ing themselves,  tickling  each  other  with  a  straw  over  the  back  of 
the  animal. 

Jeremiah,  Jr.,  in  about  a  year  removed  back  to  the  Middle- 
town  homestead  and  the  Plymouth  estate  came  into  the  posses- 
sion of  the  son  Levi,  and  John  went  to  the  "Black  River 
Country."  Levi  married,  January  11,  1S04,  Rosanna  Rowe, 
and  they  had  five  children  born  at  the  old  homestead,  Maria, 
Nancy,  Lucy  R.,  Apollos  (for  a  time  surveyor  for  the  town), 
and  Levi  Deming,  whose  family  still  retains  the  Ichabod  Camp 
property. 


BIOCJIlAPinCAL    SKE'ICIIES.  295 

On  a  visit  to  this  house  a  few  years  ago,  the  writer  found 
some  of  the  spoils  from  the  "IncHan  Wars,"  some  of  which  were 
adorned  by  Indian  artists,  handed  down  by  Sergeant  Jeremiah  to 
his  children,  and  also  accounts  and  pension  papers,  showing 
that  Sergeant  Markham  acted  as  captain,  and  feci  the  company 
of  Captain  Joseph  Blague  in  the  second  battle  of  Saratoga, 
October  7,  1777?  during  which  he  was  sliot  through  the  head 
just  as  they  were  leaping  over  the  British  breastworks  (vide 
Walworth's  Battles  of  Saratoga).  Captain  Blague  was  then  in 
the  hospital  suffering  from  wounds  received  in  tlie  first  battle, 
during  which  this  company  had  especially  distinguished  itself, 
and  Blague  soon  received  a  sword  from  General  Washington, 
with  a  commission  of  Colonel. 


DR.    RALPH    SCHUYLER    GOODWIN. 

Ralph  Schuyler  Goodwin,  of  Tiiomaston,  Conn.,  son  of 
Charles  and  Jane  (Guilford)  Goodwin,  was  born  July  24,  1839, 
at  Litchfield,  Conn.  He  is  the  grandson  of  Uri  Goodwin,  a 
descendant  of  Ozias  Goodwin,  one  of  Thomas  Hooker's  band  of 
pioneer  settlers  of  Hartford,  Conn.  He  received  his  high  school 
education  at  Watertown  Academ}^  Waterbury  Academy,  Bing- 
hampton,  N.  Y.,  Academy,  and  the  New  York  State  Normal 
School,  from  which  he  was  graduated;  commenced  the  study  of 
medicine  at  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  in  1S62,  under  Dr.  Burr,  of 
Binghamton,  Drs.  Enos  and  Conklin,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and 
Dr.  A.  S.  Hunter,  of  New  York  City  ;  attended  three  courses  of 
medical  lectures  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
New  York,  and  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital,  Brooklyn, 
N  Y.,  and  was  graduated  from  the  former  in  1S66;  commenced 
the  practice  of  medicine  in  1S67,  at  Plymouth  Center  and  later 
removed  to  Thomaston,  Conn.,  where  he  has  since  remained. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Litchfield  County  ISIedical  vSocietv,  of 
which  he  has  been  president ;  Connecticut  Medical  Society  ; 
American  Medical  Association ;  and  the  American  Public 
Health  Association.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Connecticut 
State  Board  of  Health  eight  years,  as  well  as  health  officer  of 
Thomaston,  Conn.  He  is  an  Odd  Fellow  ;  member  of  Thomas- 
ton  Board  of  Education;  acting  school  visitor  of  Thomaston,  ten 
years ;  and  member  of  Congregational  Church.  Dr.  Goodwin 
was  for  three  years  an  instructor  in  the  Collegiate  and  Poly- 
technic Institute,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Among  his  more  important 
medical  papers  are:  "The  Contagiousness  of  Tuberculosis," 
read  before  the  County  Medical  Society,  1S92;  "The  Thera- 
peutic Use  of  Alcohol,"  published  in  transactions  State  Medical 
Society,  1879;  "The  Etiology  and  Prophvlaxis  of  Typhoid 
Fever,"  read  before  the  County  Medical  Societv,  1S89;  an 
address  as  chairman  of  section  on  therapeutics,  at  centennial 
anniversary  of  the  State  Medical  vSociety,  1893  ;  "Characteristics 
of  Modern  Therapeutibs." 

Married,  1S67,  ]Miss  Jeanie  Edith  Irvine,  of  New  York 
City.     They  have  two  children  :    Ralph  Schuyler  Goodwin,  Jr., 


296 


HISTORY    OF    PJ.VMOL  TU. 


Dr.  R.  S.  GooJv.  in 


Dr.  S.  T.  Salisbury. 


BIOGKAl'lllCAL    SKETCHES.  297 

a   graduate   at   the   College  ol"  Physicians   and   vSurgeons,    New- 
York,  and  Grace  Goodwin,  educated  at  Vassar  College. 

DR.    SAMUEL     T.    SAI.iSBUKV. 

Dr.  Samuel  T.  Sal.shury,  of  whom  an  excellent  likeness  is 
given  herewith,  was  born  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  March  17,  1S14. 
He  was  of  mixed  English  and  Welsh  stock,  and  among  the 
ancestral  names  were  those  ot"  Owen,  Dexter,  Thurber,  and 
Salisbury.  He  early  developed  a  taste  for  study — was  a  pupil  in 
the  schools  of  his  native  city  and  Brown  University.  After 
finishing  his  academic  studies,  he  adopted  medicine  as  his  chosen 
profession — first  as  a  botanic  student  and  practitioner.  He  soon 
became  dissatisfied  with  the  limited  range  of  this  school,  and 
resolved  to  adopt  the  allopathic.  In  1S34,  he  entered  the  office 
of  that  distinguished  physician  and  teacher,  Dr.  Cliarles  Hooker, 
of  New^  Haven,  attending  lectures  in  the  Medical  Institution  of 
Yale  College,  and  graduated  therefiom  in  1S36.  The  year  of 
his  graduation,  he  married  Miss  Harriet  Fenn,  of  Plymouth, 
Conn,  (where  lie  had  settled  in  practice),  by  whom  he  had  two 
daughters,  both  of  whom  died  in  1848.  Mrs.  Salisbury  died 
two  years  subsequently,  thus  leaving  him  without  family.  In 
1852,  he  married  Miss  Amelia  P.  Moss,  of  Cheshire,  Conn.,  by 
whom  he  had  three  sons.  Dr.  Salisbury  was  a  lover  of  his  pro- 
fession— he  practiced  medicine  from  the  love  of  it.  With  him  it 
was  something  more  lofty  and  ennobling  than  the  means  of 
acquiring  a  livelihood.  It  was  a  sacred  calling,  enlisting  all  his 
sympathies,  and  to  it  he  consecrated  his  best  eneigies.  Though 
his  professional  life  was  a  busy  one,  yet  he  w-as  a  man  of  public 
spirit,  and  found  time  to  take  an  active  interest  in  public  afiairs, 
representing  the  town  in  the  State  legislature  and  as  selectman. 
About  1S70,  gradually  failing  health  required  him  to  relinquish 
his  practice  to  a  certain  extent,  svmptoms  of  that  insidious  but 
surelv  fiital  disease,  locomotor-ataxia,  manifested  themselves. 
Ordinary  remedies  and  a  protracted  sojourn  in  a  southern  climate 
failed  to  give  more  than  a  temporary  relief,  the  disease  culminat- 
ing fatally,  March  i,  1S74. 

DR.    FRANKIJN   J.    WHITTEMORE. 

Dr.  Franklin  J.  Whittemore  was  born  in  Washington, 
Mass.,  January  15,  1S2S.  He  was  the  son  of  Amos  Whittemore, 
of  Middlefield,  ISIass.,  and  his  mother  was  Clarissa  Hamilton,  of 
Chester,  Mass.  He  was  educated  at  Easthampton  and  studied 
medicine  in  the  New  York  University,  graduating  in  1851, 
He  settled  at  once  in  Plymouth  and  in  October,  1851,  married 
Fallah  Terry,  daughter  of  Eli  Terry,  Jr.,  of  Terryville.  They 
had  four  children,  Frank  Hamilton,  William  Richardson.  Clara 
and  Lily.     Mrs.  Whittemore  died  in  April,  1S64. 

Dr.  Whittemore  practiced  medicine  in  Plymouth  for  several 
years,  gaining  a  wide  reputation  in  the  surrounding  country  as  a 
most  successful  practitioner,  and  was  much  beloved  by  all  there. 


29S 


lllSl'OKV    OF    l'L\MOLTll. 


Dr.  F.  J.  VVhittemore. 


Dr   C    W,  Bui 


lilOGKAl'inCAL    .SKETCHES.  299 

He  was  at  ditVerent  times  elected  to  prominent  offices  in  the 
town.  He  removetl  to  New  Haven,  Conn.,  in  May,  iS68, 
where  for  fifteen  years  he  had  a  hirge  and  hicrative  practice. 
He  was  Surgeon  General  of  tlie  State  on  Governor  Jewell's  statf, 
and  since  1S83  has  resided  in  Clyde,  Ohio. 

His  oldest  son,  Frank  Hamilton,  was  born  July  6,  1S54,  and 
was  educated  at  Hopkins  Grammar  School  in  New  Haven. 
He  studied  medicine  and  graduated  from  the  Bellevue  Hospital 
Medical  College  in  1S75,  and  after  a  few  months  study  abroad, 
was  appointed  physician  to  the  Jersey  City  Charity  Hospital, 
where  he  remained  two  years,  then  returned  to  New  Haven,  and 
has  become  one  of  the  leading  physicians  of  the  city.  He  married 
in  1S76,  Millie,  youngest  daughter  of  Mrs.  Isaac  T.  Rogers,  of 
Milford,  Conn.     They  have  one  son,  Edward  Reed. 


DR.    C.    W.    BULL. 

Cornelius  Wade  Bull,  a  son  of  Jabez  and  Mary  Ford  Bull, 
was  born  at  Tallahassee,  Fla.,  April  8,  1839.  He  was  graduated 
from  Yale  College,  1863.  After  graduation  he  commenced  the 
study  of  medicine  at  the  Yale  Medical  School,  but  in  the  follow- 
ing spring  gave  up  his  studies  and  joined  the  United  States 
Navy  as  acting  assistant  paymaster,  being  assigned  to  the  Missis- 
sippi Squadron.  He  continued  in  this  service  until  August, 
1865,  when  he  returned  to  New  Haven  and  completed  his 
medical  course,  graduating  in  1867.  He  then  became  resident 
physician  at  the  State  Hospital  remaining  there  until  April, 
1868,  when  he  entered  actively  in  the  practice  of  medicine  at 
Terryville.  Too  strict  application  to  his  duties  injured  his 
health  and  he  was  compelled. to  give  up  his  practice  in  April, 
1872.      He  died  May  19,  1876. 

He  was  married  August  16,  1869,  to  Alice,  daughter  of 
Porter  Sanford.   They  had  one  son,  Cornelius  Sanford  (Yale  '93.) 


SARAH    E.    TOLLES    PLUMB. 

Sarah  E.  Tolles  Plumb  was  born  October  24,  1837,  in  that 
part  of  Plymouth  known  as  Allentown,  near  Tolles  Station  on 
the  New  York  and  New  England  Railroad.  Her  father  was 
Captain  Zenas  Tolles,  a  well  known  and  prosperous  farmer,  and 
foi"  many  years  identified  with  the  militia  interests  of  the  State. 
His  ancestors  for  several  generations  were  residents  of  Plymouth. 
Her  mother  was  Nancy  Holt,  a  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Nabby 
Holt,  who  resided  for  many  years  in  the  southwest  part  of  Har- 
winton.  Mrs.  Holt  was  a  member  of  the  Bull  family  which  has 
now  representatives  in  New  York  City  and  South  Carolina.  Dr. 
Bull  of  New  York,  who  has  a  national  reputation,  is  a  descend- 
ant of  this  family. 

On  May  13,  1861,  Miss  Tolles  was  married  to  Dr.  Henry 
Pkunb,  originally  of  Wolcott,  but  who,  on  his  graduating  from 
Yale,  settled   in  New  Milford.     In   1863  he  entered  the  army  as 


300 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Sarah  E.  Tolles  Plumb 


^^• 


w 


George  Pierjunu. 


BlOGKArillCAI.    SKETCHES.  301 

surgeon  of  the  19th  Connecticut  Infantry  Regiment,  l<nown  as 
the  Litchtielcl  County  Regiment.  At  the  close  of  the  war  tliey 
removed  west  and  settled  in  Pleasanton,  Linn  County,  Kansas, 
seventy-five  miles  south  of  Kansas  City. 

They  have  two  sons,  Charles  Waldo,  and  Hariy  Averill,  tlie 
former  aged  thirty-two  and  the  latter  twenty-seven,  both  having 
families.  Waldo  is  in  business  in  Ireton,  Iowa,  and  Harry  in 
Milwaukee,  Wisconsin. 


GEOKGE    PIEKPONT. 

George  Pierpont  was  the  great-great-grandson  of  Rev.  James 
Pierpont,  who  was  the  second  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  New 
Haven,  the  principal  founder  of  Yale  College,  the  reputed  author 
of  the  constitution  of  the  Connecticut  churches,  known  as  the 
Saybrook  Platform,  and  whose  daughter  was  the  wife  ol  Rev. 
Jonathan  Edwards,  the  eminent  theologian,  and  President 
Dwight  of  Yale  College  was  his  grandson. 

Mr.  Pierpont  was  also  connected  by  blood  relation  with 
Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  who  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  First 
Church  in  Hartford,  the  author  of  the  colonial  constitution  of 
Connecticut,  and  he  was  also  related  through  his  grandmother 
with  Rev.  Timothy  Collins,  who  was  the  first  pastor  of  the 
Litchfield  church,  and  through  his  mother  to  Caleb  Humaston, 
one  of  the  principal  founders  of  Northbury  Society,  now  Plv- 
mouth,  whose  granddaughter  she  was.  The  best  blood  of  New 
England  thus  flowed  in  Mr.  Pierpont's  veins,  constituting  him  a 
member  of  that  nobility,  not  of  rank,  wealtli  or  title,  but  of  in- 
tellect, of  learning,  of  piety,  of  culture,  and  of  character,  which 
has  been  the  foundation  of  New  England's  greatness.  The 
traces  of  this  descent  were  manifest  in  Mr.  Pierpont.  Though 
denied  the  literary  training  which  had  characterized  his  earlier 
ancestry,  he  was  a  man  of  scholarly  tastes,  especially  in  the  line 
of  historical  research,  and  kept  himself  well  abreast  of  the 
general  intelligence  of  the  times.  He  was  a  man  of  strict 
integrity  and  of  lofty  honor,  and  scorned  meanness  and  baseness 
in  all  its  branches.  He  held  at  different  times  various  offices  of 
public  trust,  such  as  magistrate,  selectman,  and  clerk  of  the 
town,  judge  of  probate,  and  was  a  member  of  the  vState  legis- 
lature. In  1S61  he  was  appointed  United  States  assistant 
assessor  and  continued  to  hold  that  office  for  eleven  years  or 
until  it  was  abolished.  In  1S77  he  was  elected  bv  the  legislature 
county  commissioner  of  Litchfield  Countv.  and  re-elected  to  the 
same  office  in  1S80.  In  April,  1840.  Mr.  Pierpont  married 
Miss  Caroline  E.  Beach,  daughter  of  the  late  Isaac  C.  Beach,  of 
Noi'thfield,  Conn.,  who  was  a  devoted  wife  and  helpmate  for 
nearly  thirty-four  years.  She  died  January  18,  1S74.  His 
second  wife  was  the  daughter  of  the  late  J.  Sherman  Titus,  of 
Washington,  Co/.n.  George  Sherman  Pierpont,  his  son,  w-as 
born  in  Plymouth,  in  1876,  and  is  now  being  educated  in 
Dr.  Carleton's  familv  school  in  Bradford,  Mass. 


302 


HIS'JOUY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Mrs.  Joseph  C.  Alcox. 


A.  Bronson  Alcott. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES.  303 


CAPTAIN    AMOS    BRONSOX. 


Captain  Amos  Bronson,  who  lived  at  Mount  Jericho  on  the 
Naugatuck,  was  a  leading  man  in  establishing  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Plymouth.  His  wife  was  Anna  Blakeslee  of  this 
town.  After  marriage  he  embraced  Episcopacy  and  became  a 
staunch  churchman,  bringing  his  family  up  in  that  faith.  He 
named  his  eldest  son  Tillotson,  after  the  distinguished  divine  of 
that  name.  This  son  became  rector  of  St.  John  s  Church  in 
Waterbury,  and  subsequently,  for  several  years,  was  at  the  head 
of  the  Episcopal  Academy  in  Cheshire.  For  many  years  it  was 
the  most  celebrated  seat  of  learning  in  the  State  under  the  control 
of  churchmen;  it  was  both  college  and  theological  seminary  for 
this  and  other  dioceses.  Dr.  Bronson  was  distinguished  for  his 
classical  and  mathematical  attainments.  He  was  a  theologian  of 
eminence  and  the  choice  of  a  large  portion  of  the  diocese  of 
Connecticut  for  the  bishopric.  For  many  years  he  was  editor 
of  the  ChiircJuiiaii's  Magazine^  to  which  he  contributed  portions 
of  his  lectures  delivered  to  his  students,  entitled  "  Science  the 
Handmaid  of  Religion,"  and  a  poem  entitled  "Retrospect," 
describing  his  birthplace  on  the  Naugatuck,  from  which  is 
quoted  the  following: 

"Sweet  vale,  secluded  from  the  world's  vain  strife, 
Where  science  never  trod,  where  genius  slept 
In  unambitious,  humble  life, 

And  calm  religion  sought  retreat, — 
Thy  flowery  lawns,  thy  green  enamelled  meads, 
Untuned  to  numbers,  thee  I  joyous  greet. 

"Full  on  the  right  a  mountain  appears  sublime; 

There  leafy  forests  crown  its  rounded  brow; 
There  up  the  rocky  steep  securely  climb 

Few  straggling,  stinted  oaks  ;  and  there 
A  naked  moss  grown  clift  of  sable  hue 

Bedims  with  gloom  the  sun's  declining  glare. 

"A  dark-green  two-fold  pine,  ascending  tall. 

Just  on  the  precipice's  dizzy  height. 
Nods  to  the  winds  and  threats  a  fall. 

The  seated  hill  and  subject  plain 
In  seeming  haze  the  swimming  eye  confuse. 

And  all  the  kindling  dazzling  senses  pain." 

Amos  Bronson's  second  son,  Noah  Miles,  was  a  man  of 
strong  mind  and  of  a  public  spirit.  He  built  the  turnpike  road 
along  the  banks  of  the  Naugatuck  to  Salem  Bridge  in  Water- 
bury,  connecting  there  with  the  turnpike  road  to  New  Haven 
and  with  the  road  to  Derby  Landing.  The  building  of  this  road 
through  its  length  was  thought  an  undertaking  of  no  ordinary 
kind  in  those  days.  It  was  not  completed  until  1S02.  Before 
this  tiine  in  passing  from  Jericho  to  Waterbury,  after  the  Revo- 
lution, one  was  obliged  to  ford  the  stream  four  or  five  times  and 
remove  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  sets  of  bars.  It  was  through 
the  bars  and  fords  that  the  adventurous  mother  rode  on  her  wav 
to  New  Haven,  twenty-five  miles  distant,  and  paid  her  son 
Tillotson's  tuition  liills.  He  fitted  for  college  with  Rev.  Dr. 
Trumbull  of  Watcrtown  and  graduated  at  Yale  in  17S6. 


304 


}1IS10KV    OK    PI.VMOUIH. 


Louisa  M.  Alcott. 


\'j0i0^^ 


Milo  Blakesley. 


BIOGKAIMIICAL    SKETCHES.  305 

Anna  Bionson,  daughter  of  Amos,  married  Joseph  C.  Alcox 
of  Wolcott,  and  was  mother  of  the  celebrated  schohir,  Bronson 
Alcott,  and  grandmother  of  Louisa  jSl.  Alcott.  When  she  went 
to  Wolcott  she  had  atlvantages  of  culture  that  were  not  so  com- 
luon  there  at  that  time,  and  at  her  marriage  brought  to  the  Spin- 
dle Hill  neighborhood  a  refinement  of  disposition  and  a  grace  of 
deportment  that  gave  a  more  polite  tone  to  the  little  community. 
In  the  course  of  time  her  husband  and  children  joined  her  in  the 
Episcopal  form  of  worship,  when  introduced  in  their  neighbor- 
hood, where  the  service  was  read  (at  the  Spindle  Hill  school 
house),  until  in  course  of  time  a  church  was  gathered.  She  lived 
to  a  great  age,  surviving  her  husband  more  than  thirty  years. 

Her  son,  Amos  Bronson  Alcott,  was  born  in  the  house  of 
his  grandfatner.  Captain  John  Alcott,  November  39,  1799.  In 
the  spring  of  1814  he  went  to  work  for  wSilas  Hoadley,  "fitting 
and  putting  together"  clocks.  The  clock  shop  was  situatetl 
about  a  mile  from  his  home,  and  was  reached  by  a  blind,  pre- 
cipitous pathway,  leading  down  the  declivity  through  a  narrow 
dehle,  following  and  crossing  repeatedly  a  little  rushing  stream, 
as  it  wound  its  way  towards  the  factory.  This  neighborhood 
was  then  named  Ireland.  The  work  proved  irksome  to  Mr. 
Alcott,  though  neither  hard  nor  disagreeable,  but  it  left  him  less 
of  the  freedom  for  reading  and  study  with  which  he  had  been 
favored  hitherto,  and,  after  urgent  persuasion  on  his  part,  he  was 
permitted  to  return  and  attend  school.  Afterward  he  became  a 
peddler  in  the  South,  but  being  unsuccessful  he  turned  to  teach- 
ing school.  Previous  to  1827  the  district  schools  of  Connecticut, 
and  of  all  New  England,  were  at  a  low  degree  of  discipline, 
instruction  and  comfort,  and  in  all  these  matters  Mr.  Alcott  set 
the  example  of  improvement.  He  first  gave  his  pupils  single 
desks,  now  so  common,  instead  of  the  long  benches,  and  double 
or  three-seated  desks.  He  established  a  school  library  ;  he  broke 
awa}^  from  the  rule  of  severe  and  indiscriminate  punishments, 
and  substituted  therefor  appeals  to  the  affections  and  the  moral 
sentiment  of  children.  He  introduced  also  light  gymnastics,  and 
made  radical  changes  in  all  the  old-time  methods.  Mr.  Alcott 
was  married  in  1S30  to  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Joseph  May  of 
Boston,  to  whom  four  children  were  born,  the  authoress,  Louisa 
M.,  being  one.  She  was  a  popular  writer  of  humorous  and 
pathetic  tales,  and  many  of  her  books  have  been  translated  into 
French  and  German,  being  universally  read  by  both  old  and 
young. 

Mr.  Alcott  was  an  uncle  of  E.  L.  Gaylord  of  Bridgeport, 
Anna  Bronson  Alcott  being  Mr.  Gaylord's  grandmother.  The 
picture  of  Mrs.  Alcott  was  taken  at  the  age  of  eightv-nine,  when 
she  visited  Mr.  Gaylord  in  Terrvville. 

MILO    BLAKESI.EY. 

Milo  Blakesley  was  a  descendant  of  Joel  Blakeslev,  who  was 
bcrn  August  19,  1750.  His  father,  Linus  Blakeslev,  was  a 
thrifty  farmer  living  in  the  eastern  part  of  Plvmouth,  and  this 
son  was  born  November  16,  1S04.     After  the  usual  experiences 


3o6 


HISTOKY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Mrs    Milo  Blakeslev. 


A.  M.  Blakeslev. 


BIOGKAPIIICAI.    SKETCHES.  307 

of  the  youth  of  the  time,  not  including  mucli  of  educational  ad- 
vantantagcs,  he  was,  when  about  twenty,  employed  by  Eli 
Tt'iiv,  Jr.,  who  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  clock  move- 
ments in  the  village  of  Terryville.  Some  time  afterward  he  en- 
teicd  into  partnership  with  Mr.  Terry  in  the  clock  business^ 
which  arrangement  continued  until  the  death  of  Mr.  Terry,; 
when  the  atlairs  of  the  concern  were  closed  up.  lie  then  took 
up  the  care  of  the  old  family  farm,  which,  with  a  large  milk 
business,  occupied  him  until  a  few  years  before  his  death  when 
he  moved  nearer  the  village,  to  what  was  known  as  the  "  Frank 
Mix"  place;   wdiere  he  died  Jnly  8,  1871- 

He  was  a  devoted  member  of  the  Congregational  Church  in 
Terrvville,  was  one  of  its  first  deacons  (an  office  which  he  re- 
tained until  death),  and  was  church  treasurer  for  the  greater  part 
of  the  time.  In  politics  he  was  an  "Old-Line  Whig."  After 
the  "•  Anti-Slavery  "  movement  was  inaugLU"ated,  he  entered  into 
it  with  earnestness,  at  a  time,  it  must  be  remembered,  when  such 
an  attitude  was  not  popular,  and  when  it  cost  something  to  take 
a  decided  stand  for  that  cause. 

Any  biography  of  Deacon  Blakesley  would  be  incomplete 
which  did  not  speak  of  his  wife,  Dorcas  McKee,  whom  he 
wedded  October  26,  1S26,  and  by  whom  he  had  children — 
Theron,  born  December  11,  1827,  died  April  24,  1852;  Augus- 
tus Milo,  born  March  4,  1830;  Fanny,  born  January  18,  1832, 
died  June  34,  1832  ;  Fanny  Jane,  born  August  23,  1833,  died 
September  11,  1885  ;  Linus,  born  December  16,  1S37.  Like  her 
namesake  of  old  she  was  "  full  of  good  works  and  almsdeeds 
which  she  did,"  a  pattern  of  industry,  frugality  and  devotion  to 
God's  service.  wShe  survived  her  husband  twenty-three  years, 
dying  July  30,  1894,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety  years. 

How  much  the  good  old  town  of  Plymouth  owes  to  that 
class  of  its  citizens  of  which  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  an  ex- 
ample, it  would  not  be  easy  to  estimate  ;  much  certainly.  Sturdy, 
righteous  men  they  were,  with  something  of  Pmitan  blood  in 
them,  evinced  continually  in  an  uncompromising  enmity  toward 
evil  and  a  congenial  eflbrt  to  and  for  the  good,  as  they  saw  it. 

"  Far  from  the  madding  crowd's  ignoble  strife, 
Their  sober  wishes  never  learned  to  stray ; 

Along  the  cool  sequestered  vale  of  life 

They  kept  the  noiseless  tenor  of  their  way." 

AUGUSTUS    M.    BLAKESLEY. 

Augustus  Milo  Blakesley,  the  second  son  of  Milo  Blakesley, 
was  born  in  the  village  of  Terrvville,  March  4,  1830.  The  usual 
experiences  of  the  common  school  and  of  the  farm  life  of  that 
period  were  his.  After  the  short  tiine  in  which  he  was  emploved 
as  a  clerk  in  the  stores  of  Andrew  Terrv  and  Allen  Hemingwav 
in  his  native  place,  he  went  to  Waterbury,  jSIarch  22,  1849,  ^""^^ 
was  employed  by  J.  JSI.  L.  &.  W.  H.  Scovill  in  their  mercantile 
business.  Remaining  with  them  until  thev  ceased  operations  in 
that  particular  line,  he  then  took  the  position  of  teller  in  the 
Waterbury  Bank  (February  2,  1852),  was  appointed  cashier,  No- 


3oS 


HIS  TORY     OF    PLYMOUTH. 


A.  P.  Bradstreet. 


Frniik  W.  ttliendgt 


lUOGHAI'lllCAl,    SKIiTCIIES. 


309 


vember  29,  1S64,  and  at  present  (Februaiy,  1S95),  holds  tliat  of- 
fice— a  period  of  thirty  years.  His  entire  service  in  tlic  institu- 
tion— forty-three  yeais — is  wortliy  of  note.  He  is  also  president 
of  the  American  Pin  Company,  treasurer  of  the  W^aterbury  Hof-- 
pital,  and  has  filled  various  positions  of  trust  in  town  and  city. 

Air.  Blakesley  was  one  of  the  fifty  original  members  of  the 
Second  Congregational  Church  of  Waterbury,  which  was  organ- 
ized in  1853,  and  has  been  treasurer  of  the  society  and  of  the 
Sunday-School  since  1856.  He  also  had  charge  of  the  music 
until  1S76,  and  still  sings  in  the  choir;  was  appointed  deacon 
November  7,  1879.  He  marrietl  JNIargaret  Johnson  of  Cadiz, 
Ohio,  September  5,  1S53,  and  lias  two  children:  Albert  John- 
son, born  April  30,  JS58  ;  Jenny  Elizabeth,  born  August  25,  1865. 

REV.   L.   BLAKESLEY. 

Of  the  loyal  sons  of  Plymouth,  there  is  one,  now  a  resident 
of  Topeka,  Kan.,  who  looks  back  to  the  place  of  his  birth  with 
an  afi'ection  and  veneration  that  come  to  all  who  have  gone  forth 
and  made  their  mark  in  this  world.  We  speak  of  Rev.  Linus 
Blakesley,  the  third  son  of  Deacon  Milo  Blakesley.  He  was 
piepared  for  college  at  Kimball  Union  Academy,  Meriden, 
N.  H.,  and  graduated  from  Yale  in  i860;  from  Lane  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  Cincinnati,  in  1863,  where  he  remained  the  fol- 
lowing year  as  tutor  in  Hebrew.  Then  for  six  years  he  was 
pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  at  Piqua,  O.  Since 
that  time  he  has  been  in  Topeka,  Kan.,  and  is  now  completing 
tlie  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  pastorate  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church.  He  was  married  to  Nellie  Treat  at  Terrvvllle  in  1866. 
Three  clildren  are  now  living. 

Mr.  Blakesley  has  been  trustee  and  secretary  of  Washburn 
College  for  twenty-two  years,  from  which  institution  he  received 
tlie  degree  of  D.  D.  in  1893;  he  is  a  member  of  the  board  of 
directors  of  the  Chicago  Theological  Seminary,  director  of  the 
Kansas  Medical  College,  president  of  the  Topeka  Congrega- 
tional Club,  president  of  the  Choral  Society,  the  finest  musical 
organization  in  Kansas  ;  he  has  also  been  president  of  the  school 
board  of  Topeka,  and  for  many  years  chairman  of  the  Kansas 
Home  Missionary  Society. 

JUDGE    A.    P.     BRADSTREET. 

Hon.  Albert  P.  Bradstreet,  second  son  of  Thomas  J.  and 
Amanda  T.  Bradstreet,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Thomaston,  for- 
merly Plymouth,  June  9,  1S46.  His  boyhood  was  spent  in  at- 
tending school  in  his  native  town,  and  in  work  upon  his  father's 
farm.  In  1867  he  entered  Yale  College,  graduating  in  1871  with 
the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts.  In  the  fall  of  the  latter  year  he 
entered  Columbia  College  Law  School  in  New  York  City,  and 
graduated  in  1873  with  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  laws.  After 
spending  a  few  months  in  the  law  office  of  Webster  &  O'Neill  of 
Waterbury,  he  opened  an  office  in  Thomaston. 

In  i877-'7S  he  represented  Thomaston  in  the  legislature,  and 


3IO  HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 

was  senator  from  the  sixteenth  district  in  the  sessions  of  iSSi-'S2, 
serving  the  latter  year  as  chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee. 

In  1S79  he  was  elected  deputy  judge  of  the  district  court  of 
Waterbury,  and  in  1S83  was  elected  judge  of  said  court,  being 
re-elected  to  the  same  office  in  1SS7  and  again  in  1893. 

He  was  town  clerk  of  Thomaston  continuously  from  1S75 
vmtil  1891,  and  judge  of  probate  for  the  Thomaston  district  from 
1SS2  until  1890.     He  has  always  been  a  Republican  in  politics. 

P'RANK    W.    ETHERIDGE. 

Frank  W.  Etheridge  was  born  in  Montvllle,  Conn.,  Maich 
31,  1858,  educated  in  Hartford  High  School,  and  resided  in 
Hartford  for  several  years  prior  to  18S0.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1880  after  a  thorough  course  of  study  with  the  late 
Elisha  Johnson  (who  for  so  many  years  was  a  prominent  resi- 
dent of  Plymouth)  and  Hon.  S.  O.  Prentice,  now  a  judge  of  the 
Superior  Court,  then  comprising  the  firm  of  Johnson  &  Prentice. 

Shortly  after  admission  he  moved  to  Thomaston  and  opened 
an  office  in  Morse  block.  In  December,  1880,  the  law  firm  of 
Bradstreet  &  Etheridge  was  formed,  and  still  exists,  Hon. 
Albert  P.  Bradstreet,  judge  of  the  Waterbury  district  court, 
being  the  senior  partner, 

Mr.  Etheridge  has  been  clerk  of  probate  court,  district  of 
Thomaston,  since  its  organization  in  1882,  till  elected  judge  of 
same  in  1890,  which  office  he  has  since  held  ;  the  present  town 
clerk  and  for  three  or  four  years  past ;  six  years  member  of 
board  of  education,  declining  re-election  last  fall ;  four  vears 
secretary  of  board ;  justice  of  the  peace  for  past  ten  vears  or 
more.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church  ;  of  Franklin 
Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F.  ;  of  Columbia  Encampment,  I.  O.  O.  F. 
He  married  Ellen  Matthews,  Decemlier  20,  1882,  and  has  four 
children,  Frederick  W.,  Clara  May,  Jesse  R.,  and  Florence  M. 

About  December,  1892,  after  the  death  of  editor  C.  James, 
and  when,  for  want  of  management,  the  paper  seemed  about  to 
go  to  pieces,  he  bought  the  Thomaston  Express^  and  has  since 
brought  it  to  a  higher  standard  than  ever  before.  The  publica- 
tion has  just  entered  upon  its  sixteenth  vear.  It  is  still  managed 
and  edited  by  him,  and  is  a  live  and  thriving  publication  devoted 
largely  to  Thomaston  and  vicinity. 

Mr.  Etheridge  is  interested  in  the  prosperity  of  his  town 
and  a  firm  believer  in  the  future  continued  growth  of  the  place. 

CAPTAIN     I.EA^TTT    DARROW. 

Caj^tain  Leavitt  Darrow,  son  of  Captain  Titus  Darrovv,  one 
of  the  incorporators  of  the  town  of  Plymouth,  was  born  in  Ply- 
mouth, January  2,  1792,  and  died  May  11,  1863.  Presented 
herewith  is  his  well  known  face  and  family  monogram. 

Having  spent  his  whole  ^j^j  'i^'^  here,  and  being  so  well 
known,  the  family  history  'I'fl  naturally  centers  in  him. 
He  was  born  at  the  old  ;ii<>^  family  home  west  of  the 
church    (south    side  of  the  street),  settled  on  the  farm 

one    mile  north,  and    later  at    his   farm  in   the  "Hollow,"  now 


BIOGRAPHICAr.    SKETCHES.  ^II 

Thomaston.  lie  was  a  soldier  of  the  war  of  1812,  and  was 
stationed  for  defense  of  New  London  until  honorably  discharged. 
He  was  captain  of  militia  and  selectman  of  the  town  of  Plymouth, 
and  ready  to  meet  every  requirement  of  a  citizen.  He  retained 
his  membership  to  the  last  in  the  old  Congregational  Church  in 
Plymouth. 

"  Frank,  opeii-liearted,  generous  as  the  sun 
Dispenses  blessings  by  his  genial  rays, 
So  he  by  many  a  kindly  act, 
Smoothed  down  life's  rugged  ways." 

Lucy  Blackman  Darrow,  a  daugliter  of  Elisha  Blackman,  a 
pioneer  of  "  Wyoming  Valley,"  Penn.,  and  the  mother  of  Cap- 
tain Leavitt  Darrow,  was  among  those  who  escaped  the  Indian 
massacre  on  the  devastation  of  that  fair  region  claimed  by  the 
State  of  Connecticut. 

Captain  Darrow  was  thrice  married.  The  mother  of  his 
children  was  Betsy,  daughter  of  Amos  Smith  of  Litchfield  (now 
Morris).  She  died  November  29,  1832.  His  second  wife  was 
Esther  Hall,  who  died  March  8,  1S38.  His  third  wife  was  Mrs. 
Delia  Hill,  who  died  November  21,  1SS5. 

His  father.  Captain  Titus  Darrow,  who  died  in  Plymouth, 
January  25,  1S41,  aged  nearly  88  years,  was  a  soldier  of  the 
Revolution,  and  participated  in  the  battle  of  Saratoga  at  the  cap- 
ture of  Burgoyne,  October  17,  i777*  ^'^  sister,  Anna  Darrow, 
after  a  long  life  of  usefulness,  sleeps  in  the  "new"  groimds  at 
Plymouth.  His  eldest  son,  Erastus  Darrow,  is  a  bookseller  and 
publisher  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.  Amos  vSmith  Darrow,  second 
son,  graduated  at  Yale  University  in  1847,  I'esided  in  the  South 
for  many  years,  and  died  in  1877?  leaving  one  son,  Wallace 
Leavitt,  now  residing  in  Tallulah,  La.  Wallace,  the  youngest 
son  living  of  Captain  Darrow,  resides  at  Yorktown,  N.  Y.  Of 
his  stepsons,  Harlow  B.  Hill  is  an  esteemed  business  man  in 
Chicago,  and  Judge  Edward  M.  Hill,  residing  in  Beatrice,  is 
County  Judge  of  Gage  County,  Nebraska.  Mrs.  Charles  L. 
Goodhue  of  Springfield  and  Mrs.  IVIontague  of  Holyoke,  Mass., 
are  daughters  of  the  eldest  stepson,  Lewis  H.  Hill. 

A  son  of  Erastus  Darrow,  Dr.  Charles  E.  Darrow,  is  a 
practicing  physician  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.  He  is  the  custodian 
of  the  sword  of  his  great-grandfather,  Titus  Darrow.  A  son  of 
Wallace  Darrow,  Colonel  Walter  N.  P.  Darrow,  is  a  graduate 
of  West  Point.  He  glories  in  his  family  military  record,  and  in 
his  membership  in  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  of  Ohio.  He 
resides  at  Columbus,  O. 

The  memliers  of  the  family  have  removed  to  other  localities, 
but  an  esteemed  relative,  Hon.  Porter  Darrow,  is  doing  his  life 
work  in  Thomaston,  the  western  portion  of  old  Plymouth. 

AARON    D.    WELLS. 

Aaron  Dutton  Wells  was  born  in  Plymouth,  Conn.,  June 
14,  1808,  in  the  house  now  occupied  by  his  daughter,  Elizabeth 
Wells.     He  was  one  of  Plymouth's  most  prominent  citizens,  and 


312 


IIISIOKY    OF    PI.VMOUTII. 


Captain  Leavitt  Darrow. 


Aainii  D.  Wells. 


j5io(;i{AFiiicAi.  ski;  TciiKS.  313 

during  liis  lifetime  held  many  offices  of  trust  fcjr  his  tovs'u.  He 
was  a  strong  abolitionist  and  Congregationalist.  Air.  Wells 
married  Miss  Martha  Bull,  November  16,  1831,  and  died  April 
II,  1S71.  His  children  were:  Allan  B.,  born  August,  1837, 
died,  1872;  Elizabeth  B.,  born  July,  1839;  George  M.,  born 
October,  1845. 

COI.EY   JAMES. 

In  1S83  the  house  next  to  the  residence  of  Mr.  Talmadge  was 
bought  by  Coley  James,  editor  and  proprietor  of  tlie  Thomaston 
Express,  and,  at  the  time  of  the  purchase,  a  member  of  the  leg- 
islature of  Connecticut.  He  had  been  living  in  what  was  called 
the  Migeon  Alansion,  in  Torrington,  a  place  within  easy  reach 
of  his  office  in  Thomaston.  Mr.  James  was  born  in  1837,  ^'^ 
Wilton,  Conn.,  where  the  T^'iies  family  had  lived  for  several 
generations.  He  was  educated  at  Trinity  college,  Hartford.  In 
1 86 1  he  joined  the  army,  entering  Company  D,  First  Connecti- 
cut Cavalry  Volunteers,  and  served  three  years,  when  he  retired 
with  the  rank  of  lieutenant  of  Company  H. 

After  the  war  he  was  engaged  in  teaching  for  several  years 
before  beginning  his  editorial  work.  He  was  for  some  time 
editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Wolcottville  (or  Torrington)  Rt-gis- 
/fV-.  He  sold  that  paper  in  18S2,  and  took  charge  of  the  Thom- 
aston Express.  He  died  in  Plymouth,  July  30,  1S92.  Mr. 
James  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife  died  within  a  few  years 
of  her  marriage,  leaving  two  sons,  Louis  Bishop  and  Coley 
Clifford.  The  elder,  Louis,  was  killed  in  the  terrible  railroad 
disaster  at  White  River  Junction,  in  1887.  The  second  wife 
died  in  January,  1893,  leaving  two  young  children,  Mary  Belden 
and  Burtis  Magie,  who  are  now  living  in  Dover,  N.  J.  Mr. 
James  was  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  In  politics  he 
was  through  life  an  ardent  Republican. 

RIEEV    SCOTT. 

Riley  Scott  was  born  in  Waterburv,  Conn.,  July  3,  1806, 
and  died  in  Plymouth,  February  21,  1892.  Mr.  Scott,  when 
cjuite  young,  learned  the  carpenters  and  joiner's  trade,  and  was 
sui^sequently  a  successful  contractor  and  builder.  In  1838  he 
erected  the  Terryville  Congregational  Church,  of  which  he  was 
a  member  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  had  erected  more 
houses  and  buildings  in  the  town,  up  to  the  time  he  retired,  than 
any  other  builder.  He  also  built  the  school  house  in  1850,  and 
the  town  hall  in  1853.  As  he  advanced  in  years,  he  purchased 
a  large  farm,  and  followed  the  occupation  of  farming  for  some 
time.  He  was  kind  hearted,  industrious  and  a  Christian,  whose 
ideas  of  rights,  irrespective  of  party,  creed,  color  or  sex,  received 
the  respect  of  the  entire  community.  In  building  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  at  Ellsworth,  Mr.  Scott  received  severe  injuries 
from  which  he  never  recovered.  Air.  Scott  married  Anna  R. 
Blakesley  of  Northfield,  October  12,  1830,  by  whom  he  had  five 


3H 


HISTOHY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


M        ^ 

^ 

0 

m^ 

,^^ 

X  • 

:J»*' 

\^m^^ 

■r               > 

\^^^^»'^-. --.,.' 

\S-' 

%  IBw 

w^ 

Rilev  Sc<itt. 


Edwin  M.  T;ilin;!Js'e. 


mOGRAPHRAL    SKETCHES.  315 

chilclrcMi  :  Julius,  born  July  27,  iS3i,clie(l  March  11,  1S32  ; 
Henry  'I'lioiuas,  born  January  23,  1833,  died  March  21,  1S42  ; 
Marietta,  born  November  17,  1S36;  Walter  Henry,  born  July 
29.  1S41  ;  Moses  Riley,  born  October  28,  1843.  Mrs.  Scott  died 
May  S,  1853.  Mr.  Scott's  second  wife  was  Melinda  A.  Burnell 
of  Cummington,  Mass.,  whom  be  married,  May  7,  1S54.  Their 
children  were:  Gertrude  Elizabeth,  born  September  3,  1856, 
and  died  May  3,  1863;  Julius  Homer,  born  May  28,  1S58,  and 
died  May  2,  1863;  Emily  Amelia,  born  October  14,  1862; 
Gertrude  Adaline,  born  January  3,  1865.  Some  of  the  best 
workmen  in  Plymouth  learned  their  trade  of  Mr.  Scott. 


EDWIN    M.   TALMADGE. 

Edwin  M  Talmadge,  Plymouth's  present  postmaster,  was 
born  in  this  town  in  1833,  and  is  a  son  of  Edwin  Talmadge,  who 
was  in  business  here  for  about  forty  years,  and  who  had  served 
as  postmaster  several  terms.  Mr.  Talmadge  is  one  of  Plymouth's 
prominent  citizens,  and  has  held  many  of^ces  of  trust,  such  as 
auditor,  selectman,  justice  of  the  peace,  and  was  town  clerk  for 
a  number  of  years.  He  is  also  a  member  of  St.  Peter's  Epis- 
copal Chinxh  and  has  held  the  ofHce  of  senior  warden  there  tor 
some  years.  Mr.  Talmadge  was  married  to  Miss  Diana  C. 
Bucknall  of  New  Britain  in  1858.  His  children  are  Anna  C. 
Talmadge  and  William  G.  Mr.  Talmadge's  father  was  at  one 
time  in  company  with  A.  B.   Curtiss. 

WILLIAM    W.    BULL. 

Benedict  Bull  and  Betsy  Carrington  were  married  at 
Alilford,  Conn.,  in  April,  1800,  and  moved  to  Plymouth,  in  1S15. 
They  had  fourteen  children,  ten  of  whom  lived  to  adult  age,  one 
dying  in  1838,  aged  eighteen.  William  W.  was  the  youngest  of 
five  sons,  born  November  28,  1816  ;  Edward  Carrington  married 
and  migrated  to  Bradford  County,  Penn.,  a  farmer,  and  died  in 
1S45  ;  Jabez  B.  went  to  Buflalo  to  find  employment  and  became 
a  member  of  a  tannery  company,  and  died  in  1871  ;  Isaac  Miles 
went  into  the  care  of  his  uncle,  Edward  Carrington,  Providence, 
R.  I.,  at  nine  \ears  of  age,  and  when  nineteen  years  old  he  went 
on  a  ship  to  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  sold  the  cargo, 
took  in  silver,  went  to  Canton,  China,  and  took  in  tea,  when  he 
returned  home  after  an  absence  of  three  years.  He  again 
returned  to  Canton  and  spent  fourteen  years  there,  when  he 
returned  to  Woonsocket,  R.  I.,  and  started  a  cotton  mill.  He 
was  never  married  and  died  in  1S84  Henry  C.  learned  the 
clock  maker's  trade,  and  went  to  Alton,  111.,  as  agent  for  the 
company  to  sell  clocks,  in  1S39.     He  died  in  1885. 

William  Bull  married  Sophia  P.  Buell  in  1S46,  and  remained 
at  the  old  familv  homestead  with  his  father  and  mother  and  older 
sister  until  his  wife  died  in  1874.  His  father  died  in  1852  and 
mother  in   1S72.       He  then  married  Mrs.   Sarah  M.  Fenton  in 


3i6 


iiisioRV   ()F   l•I.^•^K)U■|■Il. 


Mts    Betsy  Bull. 


BIOGUAPHRAI.    SKETCHHS  317 

1876,  rented  the  old  farm,  and  bought  and  moved  into  the  par- 
sonage built  by  the  Rev.  Andrew  Storrs  in  1764,  where  he  now 
resides.  Mr.  Hull  has  held  many  trustworthy  offices,  and  has 
lived  to  see  manv  changes  in  the  town  and  the  church  of  which 
he  is  a  most  prominent  member. 

CALVIN    BUTLER. 

Calvin  Butler  was  born  inWaterbury  (nowWolcott),  October 
6,  1773.  In  the  spring  of  1773  the  family  moved  to  New  AJail- 
bi)ro,  Mass.  His  education  pieparatory  to  entering  college  was 
ol)tained  under  the  tutelage  of  Rev.  Ammi  Robbins  oi  Norfolk, 
Conn.  He  married  Miss  Rosanna  Phelps  in  Norfolk,  October 
16,  1799-  Their  first  child  was  born  in  Canaan  in  November, 
iSoo;  two  other  children  were  born  in  Bristol,  one  in  December, 
]8o2,  and  one  in  February,  1S05;  the  fourth  child  was  born  in 
Plymouth,  April  15,  1S07;  from  which  is  inferred  Mr.  Butler 
came  to  Plymouth  in  1806.  He  bought  the  house  which  is  now 
ovv!ied  by  Henry  C.  Ives,  and  which  remained  his  home  while 
he  lived.  He  had  a  family  of  fourteen  children,  only  four  of 
whom  survived  him.  E.  T.  Butler  of  Norfolk,  the  seventh 
child  and  the  only  one  now  living,  was  born  December  21,  1813. 
He  is  now  living  in  the  house  where  his  father  and  mother  were 
married,  and  if  his  life  is  continued  for  four  and  one-half  yeais 
more  he  expects  to  celebrate  the  one  hundreth  anniversary  of 
his  parents'  wedding  in  the  room  in  which  they  were  married 
in  1799.  His  father  died  August  i,  1845,  having  served  as  a 
pui)lic  officer  in  Plymouth  for  many  years,  much  of  the  time 
being  the  only  lawyer  in  the  town. 

A.    B.    CURTISS. 

A.  B.  Curtiss  was  born  in  the  town  of  Plymouth  in  iSiQ, 
and  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven.  While  a  boy  he  entered  the 
store  of  Edwin  Talmadge  as  clerk,  and  his  aptness  for  business 
and  pleasant  manners  so  commended  him  to  his  emplover  that 
when  he  became  of  age  he  was  taken  into  partnersliip.  The 
firm  did  a  large  business  for  those  days,  but  unfortunate  endorse- 
ments caused  their  downfall.  Mr.  Curtiss  started  in  business 
again  in  the  Stejihen  ]Mitchell  store,  but  soon  after  bought  the 
property  where  he  died,  remodeled  the  house,  and  opened  a 
hotel.  Except  for  a  couple  of  years,  when  he  kept  the  Brown 
hotel  in  Waterbury,  he  had  for  forty  years  welcomed  strangers 
to  his  house  and  catered  to  their  wants.  He  was  well  fitted  for 
a  landlord  by  his  care  to  have  everything  pleasant,  his  genial 
hearty  manners  and  business  like  ways.  He  was  a  benevolent, 
public  spirited  man,  always  ready  to  do  his  full  share  in  common 
enterprises.  His  later  years  were  full  of  suflering,  yet  to  the 
last  he  had  a  bright  and  cheery  word  for  each  friend  and 
acquaintance.  Mrs.  A.  B.  Curtiss  still  keeps  the  doors  of  the 
Qiiiet  house  open  to  strangers  and  travelers,  some  of  whom  often 
travel  out  of  their  wav  to  indulge  in  the  homelike  accommoda- 
tions that  are  to  be  had  there. 


3iS 


iii-sroin-  OK   pi.vMouiii. 


Residence  oi  Wm.  W.  Bui 


Quiet  House,  Pl>  mouth. 


BIOGHAI'HICAI-    SKETCHES.  3I9 

GEOUGE    LANGDON. 

John  Langdon,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Farmington,  was 
one  of  the  proprietors  of  VVaterbury.  His  name  appears  first  on 
the  list  of  the  subscribers  to  the  articles  of  association  and  has 
set  to  it  the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds.  He  had  a  house  lot  on 
Willow  street  in  Waterbury  and  other  allotments  of  land,  but 
did  not  remain  long  in  VVaterlnn-y,  and  his  allotments  were  sold. 
He  died  in  Farmington  in  16S9. 

Joel  Langdon,  the  lifth  in  line  of  descent  from  John,  came 
to  Plymouth  in  1794,  and  purchased  the  home  represented  here. 
In  this  house  he  kept  a  country  store  and  lived  there  after  his 
marriage  in  1796.  He  had  Solomon  and  Zenas  Cowles  of 
Farmington  for  his  partners  for  three  or  four  years.  In  a  very 
few  years  he  built  the  store  now  used  as  a  post  office.  He  was 
tax  collector  in  i'Jc)S,  and  served  as  constable,  administering  the 
punishment  of  whipping  at  the  post  the  last  man  thus  sentenced 
in  Plymouth.  He  married  Mary  Gridley,  of  Farmington,  in 
1796.  He  was  an  active,  energetic  business  man,  transporting 
his  goods  from  New  York  by  sailing  vessels  to  New  Haven,  and 
from  New  Haven  by  team.  He  was  a  man  of  genial  disposition, 
public-spirited  and  benevolent.  He  gave  a  helping  hand  to  the 
men  who  in  Plymouth  were  the  pioneers  in  manufacturing  and 
were  struggling  hard  to  make  a  start.  He  Joined  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  1S31,  and  died  in  1S3S,  being  buried  the  same 
day  that  the  steeple  of  the  old  church  was  pulled  down.  He  had 
two  sons,  Edward  and  George.  George  was  as  a  young  man  a 
great  favorite  with  all  classes.  He  was  a  classmate  and  room- 
mate in  Yale  College  of  Horace  Bushnell,  D.  D.  He  died  in 
Boston  in  1826,  before  graduation.  A  large  number  of  people 
joined  in  procession  to  meet  the  body  on  its  way  from  Hartford. 

Edward  was  first  clerk  and  afterwards  partner  with  his 
father,  later  carrying  on  the  business  himself.  When  a  young 
man  he  went  to  Litchfield  with  Dr.  Buell  and  learned  the  art  ot 
compounding  drugs  and  putting  up  prescriptions.  When  he 
came  back  that  business  w^as  added  to  the  other.  Perhaps  it 
was  the  first  drug  store  in  town.  Edward  was  a  public-spirited 
man,  energetic  and  active,  much  interested  in  the  establishment 
of  an  academy,  and  in  starting  an  infant  school  which  had  many 
kindergarten  features.  He  held  the  offices  of  treasurer  of  the 
School  Society,  of  the  Town,  of  the  Fund  of  the  Congregational 
Society.  He  joined  the  church  in  182 1,  was  married  to 
Prudence  Emeline  Gates  of  East  Haddam,  in  182^,  and  died  in 
1866,  having  lived  forty  years  in  the  house  he  built  before 
marriage.  He  was  a  strong  Anti-Mason,  a  Henry  Clay  W^hig, 
and  a  Republican.  He  became  a  farmer  in  1833,  '^""^  introduced 
the  first  cultivator,  horse  rake,  subsoil  plow  and  mowing 
machine.  His  character  was  a  positive  one — spoke  his  opinion 
freely  without  fear  or  favor,  joined  heartily  in  first  temperance 
and  total  abstinence  reform,  and  gave  freely  of  his  time  and 
money  to  public  service.  He  had  one  son,  George,  and  two 
daughters,  Ellen  M..  who  married  Lucius  P.  Porter,  in  18^1, 
and  died  in  1S61  ;  also  Sarah  H.,  who  died  in  18^8,  aged  eleven. 


320 


HISTORY    OF    PI.YMOUTH. 


Edward  Langdon. 


Birthplace  of  Edward  Langdon. 


I5I0GKA1'I11CAL    SKIiTCHES.  32I 

Gcorii^e  was  fitted  ior  college  at  Farmington,  graduatetl  at 
^'ale  College  in  1S48,  went  into  business  in  Colchester  in  1849 
with  L.  P.  Porter.  While  in  Colchester  he  was  elected  one  of 
the  board  of  school  visitors,  justice  of  the  peace,  and  in  1S53  was 
sent  to  flie  legislature.  In  185 1  he  married  Elizabeth  A.  Chap- 
man, of  Colchester.  In  1854,  he  with  four  others  started  the 
Novelty  Rubber  Company,  which  in  1855  located  in  New 
Brunswick,  N.  J.  This  was  his  place  of  residence  until  1857, 
when  he  returned  to  Plymouth.  In  1869  he  was  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  Plymouth  Woolen  Company.  While  in  Ply- 
mouth he  has  held  the  various  offices  of  selectman  for  ten  yeai  s, 
one  of  the  board  of  school  visitors,  acting  school  visitor,  town 
treasurer,  justice  (jf  the  peace,  and  grand  juror.  In  church,  the 
offices  of  clerk,  deacon,  Sunday  School  superintendent.  In 
society,  ot  committee  and  fund  committee.  During  the  war  he 
was  appointed  by  Governor  Buckingham  one  ot  the  commis- 
sioners to  enlist  colored  men  in  Connecticut  regiments.  The 
office  of  trustee  of  the  Reform  School  was  given  him  by  Governor 
[evvell  and  afterwards  by  the  State,  during  the  superintendency 
of  Dr.  Hatch.  His  principal  public  work  has  been  in  connec- 
tion with  Connecticut  Sunday  School  Association  from  its 
formation  in  1S59  to  date,  having  held  the  positions  of  county 
secretary,  member  of  executive  committee,  and  chairman.  In 
the  prosecution  of  this  work  he  has  visited  116  towns  of  the 
State,  some  of  them  many  times,  taking  part  in  organizing  new 
Sunday  Schools  and  caring  for  them,  preparing  for  and  assisting 
in  various  conventions  held.  His  present  position  is  that  of 
honorary  member  for  life  of  the  executive  committee. 

His  family  consists  of  three  sons,  Edward  in  New  '\'ork, 
Lucius  and  Joseph  in  Bridgeport,  a  daughter,  Ellen,  at  home. 
The  grandson,  who  has  the  same  surname  as  the  emigrant 
ancestor  George,  is  the  tenth  in  direct  line  in  this  coimtry, 
runninof  l)ack  for  more  than  two  and  a  half  centuries. 


TIMOTHY    ATWATER,     SK.     AND   JU. 

One  of  tlie  early  settlers  of  Plymouth  was  Timothy  Atwater, 
who  was  born  May  6,  1756,  and  was  married  to  Lydia  Humis- 
ton,  who  was  born  June  5,  1756,  and  died  in  June,  1S43.  Mr. 
Atwater  died  May  6,  1830.  He  owned  the  old  red  house  which 
stood  on  Town  Hill,  smrounded  by  seventy-four  acres  of  land. 
His  three  sons,  named  respectively  Elam,  Wyllys  and  Timothy, 
Jr.,  were  born  in  Plymouth  Center.  The  latter  came  into  pos- 
session of  the  farm  and  bought  additional  land  until  he  finally 
became  owner  of  300  acres,  all  cleaied  except  a  little  wood  lot. 
He  furnished  Plymouth  Hill,  Terryville,  Thomaston  and  Bristol 
with  meat  for  many  years.  Woodchuck  Allen  drove  one  of  his 
meat  wagons  to  supply  Bristol  trade,  and  three  or  four  other 
carts  were  in  service  to  supply  the  other  villages.  Mr.  Atwater 
was  a  man  of  unusual  strength,  and  it  is  related  of  him  that  he 
could  throw  a  good  sized  beef  creature  on  to  its  side  by  taking 
hold  of  its  horns,  and  that  when  milking  a  kicking  cow  he  would 


3-^ 


HISTOUY    OK    PJ.YMOU'III. 


Residence  owned  by  Mrs   George  1  aiigdon. 


George  Langdon. 


niocnAiMncAi.  ski;tciies.  323 

milk  with  one  hand  while  with  the  other  he  would  hold  the 
cow's  leg  out  at  arm's  length  until  he  iiad  finished.  He  went 
into  the  tackhammer  husiness  in  Allentown  ahout  the  year  1S45, 
hut  this  proved  a  disastrous  \entine  for  him,  for  he  was  hurned 
out  and  lost  about  $5,000.  lie  did  ncjt  invest  an\'  further  in 
manufacturing  enterprises. 

Mr.  Atwater  was  hoi'u  October  16,  1799,  and  was  mariied 
to  lumice  F.  Ives  December  2,  1829.  He  died  FebriKir\-  14, 
1853,  leaving  a  widow  and  two  sons,  Elbert  and  Stephen.  The 
latter  now  resides  in  Fennville,  Mich  ,  and  his  mother,  who  was 
ninety-five  3'ears  old  March  9,  this  \  ear,  li\es  with  him.j 

WVI,I.VS     ATWATER. 

Wyllys  Atwater  was  born  Octobei'  6,  1790,  in  Flvmouth 
Center  on  South  street  where  he  lived  imtil  nine  years  old,  when 
his  father,  Timothy  Atwater,  moved  on  to  a  large  farm  on  Town 
Hill.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  years  he  bought  his  time  of  his 
father  and  went  to  New  Jersey  where  he  peddled  tinware.  He 
was  married  twice — to  Fanny  Furtly,  Februarv  26,  1813,  who 
died  in  1843,  and  to  Julia  Curtiss  (widow  of  Eli  Curtiss)  in  1844. 
He  was  the  father  of  tweKe  children.  He  owned  a  farm  below 
Thomaston  in  early  life  but  disposed  ol  it,  and  removed  to  the 
farm  which  he  sold  to  and  is  now  owned  by  Henry  S.  Minor. 
Air.  Atwater  was  first  selectman  for  several  years,  and  was  one 
of  the  prominent  men  of  his  day.  He  died  April  18,  1S73,  aged 
eighty-two  years  and  six  months. 

IIEXRV    ATWATEH. 

Henry  Atwater,  son  of  Wyllys,  was  born  in  1S15  and  died 
in  1865,  aged  fifty  years.  He  was  a  stone  mason  by  trade,  but 
in  his  advanced  years  he  became  the  village  "squire."  Flis 
opinion  was  sought  on  legal  points,  he  was  the  justice  in  all  local 
cases,  united  people  in  bonds  of  matrimonv,  executed  wills,  and 
was  regarded  as  a  man  of  even  and  exact  justness.  He  had  an 
enterprising  spirit,  and  in  company  with  Howell  Cowles,  was 
the  first  to  manufacture  cooking  stoves  in  or  near  Plymouth. 
This  was  fifty  years  ago,  and  it  was  as  hard  then  to  introduce  a 
stove  into  a  house  as  later  it  was  to  put  on  lightning  rods.  It 
was  customary  to  drive  around  with  a  stove  until  a  customer 
was  found,  when  it  could  be  unloaded  and  put  up.  Mr.  Atwater 
was  interested  in  other  business  ventures,  the  making  of  cast  iron 
skates,  automatic  apple  pickers,  and  also  as  a  maker  oi"  lirick. 
He  married  Catherine  Fenn  in  1836,  who  died  in  1863.  Eight 
children  survived  them. 


BARXAB.\.S    W.     ROOT, 

Barnalias  \V.  Root  was  a  native  of  the  old  town  of  Wood- 
bury, where  he  lived  with  his  parents,  David  Root  and  Margaret 
Mallory,  both  natives  of  Woodbury,   until  he  was  twelve  years 


324 


HlSIOK\     OF    PLYMOUTH 


Mrs    Timotlix  Atwater,  ..'r. 


W\ll\s  Atwatf 


HUXJKAI'lllCAL    SKKl  CllUS. 


325 


old.  His  home  was  tlien  with  his  uncle,  Deacon  Francis  Aial- 
loiy,  in  Southbury.  When  a  young  man  he  learned  the  trade  of 
tailor,  with  Isaac  Johnson.  He  hadasa  fellow  apprentice,  Israel 
P.  Warren,  who  afterwards  became  his  pastor  in  Plymouth.  In 
1S29  he  married  Caroline  P.  Hinman  oi'  VVaterbury,  daugliter  ol" 
Hon.  Curtiss  Hinman.  In  the  great  revival  of  1831  he  was  con- 
verted and  joined  the  Congregational  Church  in  Southburw  In 
1S33  he  removed  to  Plymouth  where  he  conducted  a  tailoring 
business.  For  a  short  time  before  1840  he  and  IIenr\-  L.  Har- 
rington engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  various  kinds  of  stocks 
then  used  for  men's  neckwear.  These  were  made  with  a  bristle 
frame  and  covered  with  silk,  satin  or  other  nice  material.  Thev 
were  neither  handsome  to  look  at  nor  comfortable  to  wear.  His 
occupation  until  within  a  few  years  of  his  death  was,  with  the 
ai)Ove  exception,  that  of  tailoi-.  In  the  church  he  held  the  office 
of  deacon  from  1S53  to  his  death.  He  was  also  foi-  some  years 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School  and  one  of  the  standing 
committee.  In  1845  he  was  elected  representative  to  the  (Jeneral 
Assembly,  served  some  years  as  town  treasurer  and  judge  of  pro- 
bate, as  well  as  holding  other  town  offices.  In  politics  he  was 
an  ardent  Whig,  and  naturally  became  an  earnest  Republican. 
His  marked  characteristics  were  positive  and  intelligent  convic- 
tions as  to  right  and  wrong,  a  quiet  and  sensible  judgment  of 
principles  and  men.  Such  a  man  having  positiveness  without 
rudeness  inspired  a  confidence  such  as  lew  men  enjov.  He  was 
very  self  denying,  helping  others  when  he  could  ill  atibrd  to. 
With  a  sober  face  and  quiet  expression  he  would  often  convulse 
the  bystanders  with  biu'sts  of  genuine  humor,  all  unexpected. 

He  had  three  sons,  Charles,  Howard,  who  died  at  the  age 
of  six  years,  and  Edward  C,  who  is  a  worthy  representative  of 
the  family,  residing  in  Thomaston,  and  wlio  is  one  of  the  execu- 
tive committee  of  the  Connecticut  Sunday  School  Association, 
deacon  and  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School.  The  name  of 
Barnabas  W.  Root  was  given  to  a  native  African  boy,  who  was 
for  some  time  cared  for  by  the  Plymouth  Sunday  School,  came 
to  this  country  to  be  educated,  graduated  at  Knox  College,  Illi- 
nois, with  honors,  studied  for  the  ministry  at  Chicago  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  was  ordained  at  the  Broadway  Tabernacle  Church, 
New  York  City,  and  returned  to  Africa,  wliere  he  died. 

JONATHAN     POND. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  a  resident  of  the  town  of  Plymouth 
at  the  date  of  its  organization,  was  the  second  son  of  Phineas 
and  Martha  Pond  of  Branford,  Conn.,  where  he  was  born  in 
1739.  He  was  of  a  family  of  seven  boys  and  three  girls.  In 
1764  he  purchased  of  Benjamin  Cook  of  Farmington  (Bristol 
was  then  in  the  town  of  Farmington),  fifty-one  acres  of  land,  and 
the  same  year  he  also  purchased  land  of  Eliphalet  Eaton  of 
Goshen.  This  land  was  situated  in  that  part  of  the  town  of 
Bristol  since,  and  perhaps  then,  known  as  Chippenv  or  Chippin's 
Hill.  His  sister  Martha,  who  afterwards  married  Isaac  Curtis 
of    Plymouth,    probably    came    with    him    or    soon    afterwards. 


msrORY    OF    PI.YMOLIU. 


•a 

^m 

P 

1-,.    ' 

SW^ 

Menrv  Atvvater. 


Barnabas  W.  Runt. 


liKXiliAI'IIlCAI.    S>KK'1C1IES. 


3^7 


While  living  on  the  Chippin's  Hill  farm,  probably  soon  after 
coming  into  possession  of  it,  he  married  Susannah  Hungerford 
of  Bristol.  They  had  but  one  child,  Phineas,  2d.  He  died 
October  28,  1S18,  and  was  buried  at  East  Plymouth.  Pie  was 
fifty-two  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  death.  Susannah  did 
not  long  survive  the  birth  of  her  son.  Soon  after  her  death 
Jonathan  disposed  of  his  Chippins  Hill  farm  and  settled  in  the 
town  of  Plymouth  in  1770.  He  was  then  thirty-one  years  of 
age.  His  Plymouth  farm  consisted  of  about  200  acres,  situated 
partly  in  Bristol  and  partly  in  Plymouth.  This  farm  remained 
in  the  possession  of  Jonathan  and  his  descendants  until  1864,  a 
period  of  ninety-four  years.  The  Pond  homestead  now  standing 
near  the  southeast  corner  of  tlie  town  was  built  b}'  him.  The 
exact  date  of  its  erection  cannot  be  ascertained,  yet  from  the 
best  information  obtainable,  the  writer  of  this  sketch  believes  it 
to  have  been  built  either  during  or  near  to  the  year  179=1.  The 
impression  that  the  house  now  standing  much  antedates  this 
period  is  erroneous,  for  his  son  Philip,  born  in  1 778,  drew  a 
portion  of  the  timber  for  the  frame  from  the  town  of  Harwinton. 
When  he  first  took  possession  of  the  farm  he  doubtless  lived  in 
the  ''old  house,"  which  then  stood  near  where  the  present 
centennarian  stands. 

The  second  wife  of  Jonathan  Pond  was  Jerusha  Jerome  of 
Bristol,  an  aunt  of  the  late  Chauncey  Jerome  of  New  Haven, 
formerly  of  Plymouth.  To  them  nine  cliildren,  five  sons  and 
four  daughters,  were  born.  They,  the  children,  received  their 
education,  *'  readm',  'ritin'  and  'rithmetic,"  at  the  district  school 
on  Fall  mountain.  Mr.  Pond  was  a  blacksmith  as  well  as  a 
farmer.  The  commercial  and  religious  center  of  this  section  of 
the  country  in  those  early  days  was  Bristol.  He  united  with  the 
Congregational  Church  there  July  31,  1774.  Not  only  he,  but 
both  of  his  wives,  two  sons  and  a  daughter,  and  later  a  grand- 
daughter were  members  of  this  church.  On  the  i6th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1S17,  he  departed  this  life,  aged  78  years.  Eleven  years 
later,  to  wit,  in  1828,  there  came  another  day  of  mourning  at 
the  old  homestead,  for  mother  and  grandmother  had  passed 
away,  gone  to  join  her  husband  beyond  the  river.  She  was 
seventj'-seven  at  the  time  of  her  death.  The  death  of  Jerusha, 
widow  of  Jonathan  Pond,  was  not  the  second  death  occurring  in 
the  old  house  now  standing.  It  was  probably  the  third,  possi- 
bly the  fourth,  as  Nancv,  the  youngest  child  of  Jonathan,  died 
at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  the  event  may  have  occurred  soon  after 
the  family  took  possession  of  the  then  new  house.  The  second, 
or,  if  Nancy  died  there,  the  third  to  occur  was  tragic  and  sad 
indeed.  At  the  date  of  which  we  write,  1826,  Philip,  the  fourth 
child  of  Jonathan,  resided  with  his  family  of  eight  children  at 
the  old  homestead.  Jerusha,  his  mother,  resided  with  him.  On 
Sundav,  Jidv  30,  while  the  whole  family,  with  the  exception  of 
a  daughter,  twentv-two  years  of  age,  and  two  infant  children, 
aged  tw^o  vears  and  nine  months  and  three  months  old  respect- 
ivelv,  were  at  church  in  Bristol,  Anna,  the  wife  of  Philip,  sud- 
denlv  dropped  dead   upon  the  floor.      The  grown  up  daughter 


3^S 


IIIS'IOUV    OF     I'l.'iMOU'ni. 


Jonathan  t'lmd's  Homesiead. 


AleNanJfi    1'(Hk1. 


HIO(;i{APllICAr.    SKKTCHliS.  32C) 

ran  to  the  house  of  her  uncle  Jonatlian,  whose  wife  was  her 
mother's  si^^ter,  a  near  neighbor  residing  upon  a  part  of  the  old 
farm,  and  notified  them  of  the  event.  Alexander,  her  double 
cousin,  hastened  with  all  possible  dispatch  to  inform  the  family. 
It  is  said  that  her  husband  ran  his  horse  most  of  the  way  from 
the  church  to  his  home.  That  the  event  produced  a  shock  not 
only  to  the  family  but  throughout  the  neighborhood  goes  without 
the  saying.  She  was  buried  in  Bristol  in  the  old  South  burying 
ground.  Jonathan  and  Jerusha  !  What  old  fashioned  names  I 
For  four  successive  generations  this  pioneer  couple  have  had 
descendants  born  within  the  limits  of  the  town.  For  three 
generations  the  old  homestead  was  in  the  family  and  the  birth 
rate  was  pretty  steadily  maintained. 

U})on  the  death  f)f  [onathan  Pond  part  of  the  farm  was  taken 
by  his  second  son,  Jonathan,  Jr.,  the  balance,  with  the  home- 
stead, going  to  lii.s  fourth  son,  Philip,  who  in  turn  became  the 
head  of  a  large  familw  Of  his  children,  Philip  and  Jonathan 
W.  are  now  li\  ing  at  New  Haven,  Conn.,  Harriet  became  the 
wife  of  Eli  Terry,  while  the  second  son,  Willard  E.,  went  west 
and  aided  materialh  in  populating  that  sparsely  settled  country. 
Alajor  J.  B.  Pond  of  New  York  is  his  son.  Alexander  Pond, 
son  of  Jonathan  P(Mu1.  Jr..  and  Betsev  Adams  Pond,  born  Alarch 
9,  iSii,  married  Lvdia  Gaylord  of  Bristol,  Conn.,  became  the 
owner  of  the  home  of  his  grandfather  in  183^,  making  it  bis 
home  until  by  sale  it  passed  out  of  the  Pond  name  in  1S64.  A 
peculiar  feature  of  their  occupancy  is  that  each  owner  raised  a 
family  of  eight  children,  five  boys  and  three  girls.  The  children 
of  Alexander  now  living  are:  Caroline  ^V.,  wife  of  N.  D. 
Granniss,  Waterburv ;  Sarah  A.,  wife  ol  S.  A.  Clark,  New 
Haven  ;  Martin  A..  "Waterbury  ;  Eliza  A.,  wife  of  J.  W.  Clark, 
Terryville,  and  Edgar  L.,  Terryville. 

A.    STOUGHION. 

Andrew  Stoughton  was  born  in  Phmouth,  November  16, 
1796,  and  died  April  7,  1850,  his  whole  life  having  been  spent 
in  his  native  town.  He  was  the  son  of  Captain  Oliver  Stough- 
ton, who  was  a  prominent  man  in  his  day,  and  was  captain  of 
the  militia  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  Deacon 
Stoughton  lived  a  quiet  life  as  a  farmer,  yet  by  his  earnest  and 
consistent  Christian  character  he  won  the  respect  and  esteem  of 
all  who  knew  him.  He  was  elected  to  the  office  of  deacon  of 
the  First  Congregational  Church  at  the  age  of  thirty,  which 
office  he  held  until  his  death.  He  left  two  daughters  and  four 
sons.  Three  of  the  latter  have  been  deacons  in  the  churches  of 
Plymouth  and  Terryville.  His  wife  was  Julia  Hooker,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Deacon  Ira  Hooker,  of  Red-Stone  Hill,  Plainville,  and 
was  a  direct  descendant  of  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker  of  Hartford. 

JOHN    M.    WARDWEI.L. 

John  M.  Wardwell  was  born  in  Sharon,  Conn.,  and  died  in 
Plymouth,  Februai  y  20,  1S95.     Mr.  Wardwell  came  to  the  town 


330 


IIISrOKV     OF     I'l.NMOLITH. 


E.  L    Pund'b.  Re^iJeiice. 


Andrew  Stoughtoii. 


BIOOKAI'IIICAL    SKi:i  C'llKS.  33  I 

when  a  young  man,  from  Salisbury,  and  was  engaged  as  clerk 
by  Talniadge  &  Curtiss.  After  leaving  here  he  was  for  some 
yeais  in  the  employ  of  H.  M  Welch,  who  was  a  merchant  in 
what  is  now  Plainville,  but  at  that  time  called  the  Basin.  After 
that  he  went  to  Waterbury  and  engaged  in  manufacturing  cotton 
gins,  and  later  went  to  Florence,  Mass.,  and  afterwards  became 
New  York  agent  for  the  VVilliston  &  Knight  Company,  who 
were  manufacturers  of  buttons.  In  1S69  he  came  to  Thomaston 
(then  Plymouth)  and  was  the  treasurer  and  general  manager  of 
the  Plymouth  Woolen  Company.  Here  he  had  a  severe  illness, 
from  which  lie  never  recovered. 

He  traveled  much  in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  seeking 
for  health  and  spending  his  winters  in  a  warm  climate  and  his 
summers  in  Plvmouth.  Mr.  Wardwell  was  a  very  active,  ener- 
getic and  thorough  business  man,  sparing  no  pains  to  do  every- 
thing he  had  in  iiand  in  the  best  possible  way.  He  was  also 
courageous,  hopeful,  thoroughly  honest,  and  had  strong  convic- 
tions as  to  truth  and  justice.  He  had  been  for  many  years  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Brooklyn,  of  which  Dr. 
Cuyler  was  for  so  many  years  pastor.  His  benevolent  gifts  were 
m;my,  and  his  giving  was  systematic,  hearty  and  intelligent. 
His  many  good  qualities  endeared  him  to  all  who  had  the 
pleasure  of  his  acquaintance,  and  his  example  served  as  an 
inspiration  to  them.    The  world  is  better  for  having  such  men  in  it. 

W.   G.    BARTON. 

W.  G.  Barton  was  born  in  Litchfield,  Conn.,  and  came  to 
Plymouth  a  number  of  years  ago.  For  five  years  he  was 
engaged  in  the  grocery  business  on  Plymouth  Hill,  where  the 
firm  was  known  as  Barton  &  Beach.  For  the  last  seven  years 
he  has  been  in  the  same  line  of  business  in  the  village  of  Terry- 
ville,  and  has  won  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all  by  his 
thoroughly  accommodating  ways  in  serving  his  customers  The 
present  business  is  carried  on  in  the  stoi'e  and  buildings  owned 
by  E.  M.  Daily  of  Bristol.  His  line  of  goods  consists  of  every- 
thing that  may  be  called  for  or  wanted,  and  his  prices,  like  his 
goods,  are  seldom  criticised.  Mr.  Barton  was  sent  to  the 
legislature  in  1SS3  and  has  since  served  as  first  selectman,  and 
has  in  manv  other  wavs  been  honored  by  his  fellow  citizens. 


JOSEPH    C.     BAKTHE. 

Joseph  C.  Barthe  came  to  Terrv\ille  from  Thomaston  in 
June,  1S92,  where  he  had  resided  for  fifteen  years,  and  where  he 
was  employed  for  nine  years  in  the  rolling  mill.  He  was  in 
Westfield,  Mass.,  when  the  late  war  broke  out,  and  enlisted 
from  there  and  served  faithfully  until  his  discharge  in  July,  1S64. 
For  over  two  vears  he  was  landlord  of  the  Terryville  Hotel,  and 
has  become  well  known  here  and  elsewhere  by  his  pleasant  man- 
ner in  catering  to  the  wants  of  all  who  have  had  occasion  to  dine 
and  rest  under  his  roof.       When  the  hotel  property  was  sold  he 


332 


HIS  TORY    OF    FLY.MOUIir. 


John  Al,  WarJv 


ResiJeiiCf  nf  VV.  G.  Bart. ID. 


BlOGKAl'lllL  Al,    .SKK  1  CllhS. 


333 


moved  into  the  house  owned  by  Dr.  Swett,  and  where  he  now 
resides  and  accommodates  both  reguhir  and  transient  boarders. 
Mr  Barthe  is  a  mason,  belonging  to  the  Blue  Lodge,  Chapter, 
Council  and  Commandery,  He  is  also  a  member  ot"  the  United 
Workmen,  and  was  one  of  the  charter  members  ot"  the  Thomas- 
ton  lodge. 

ALFIIED  B.   UENFUKE. 

Allied  1>.  Renfree  was  born  in  Monou,  Counts'  ol'  Cornwall, 
England,  in  1S15.  His  parents'  names  were  John  and  Maiw 
He  began  early  to  provide  lor  himself,  at  ten  years  going  to  li\e 
with  a  farmer  and  a  few  years  later  employed  as  a  clerk  in  a 
grocerv  store  in  the  town  of  Falmouth.  Here  in  1839  he 
mariied  Maria  Gay.  After  living  six  years  in  Falmouth  he 
removetl  to  Truro,  wheie  he  was  employed  by  a  wholesale 
grocery  firm.  The  Rev.  William  Gay,  a  brother  ot  Mrs.  Ren- 
free aiul  father  of  Rev.  William  Gay  of  Terryville,  having  come 
to  xA.merica  and  sending  back  good  accounts  of  the  country,  jMr. 
Renfree  decided  to  come  over.  After  a  passage  of  six  weeks  the 
tamily  of  six  landed  in  New  York  about  the  middle  of  October, 
1S49.  After  spending  the  winter  in  Haddam,  where  Mrs.  Ren- 
free's  brother  lived,  he  went  to  farming  in  Middlebury.  From 
there  in  1853  he  went  to  Plymouth  Hollow  in  the  emplov  of 
Henry  Terry,  woolen  manufacturer.  From  Mr.  Terry  he  pur- 
chased a  farm  on  which  he  lived  until  he  removed  to  Plymouth 
Center,  where  he  died  in  1880  at  the  age  of  sixty-five.  Mrs. 
Renfree  outlived  him  for  a  few  years.  His  family  consisted  of 
four  sons,  John,  William  B.,  James  H.,  Philip  ;  two  daughters, 
Amelia,  who  married  Edward  C.  Root,  and  died  March  18, 
1S95,  and  Marietta.  Mr.  Renfree  was  very  fond  of  his  family 
and  enjoyed  his  home  life.  He  was  generous  and  kind  hearted. 
During  a  revival  in  1873  he  became  a  changed  man.  The 
change  was  very  marked,  not  only  in  his  daily  life,  but  in  his 
many  expressions  of  delight  in  the  service  of  his  new  master,  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  His  heart  and  life  seemed  to  overflow  with 
Christian  jov  and  peace. 


A.   H.   TAYLOR. 

Algelon  H.  Taylor,  who  died  in  Plymouth,  July  6,  1894, 
had  been  in  the  sewing  machine  and  musical  trade  for  seventeen 
years  in  Thomaston.  He  also  had  a  jewelry  business,  all  of 
which  was  conducted  in  the  large  store  in  the  north  end  of  Brad- 
street's  block.  He  had  a  branch  store  in  Waterbury  and  several 
agents  on  the  road  at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  born  in 
Cornwall  and  lived  to  be  fortv-one  years  and  five  months  old. 
In  September,  1881,  he  married  Miss  Jessie  Richards,  an 
ado]:)ted  daughter  of  E.  L.  Richards  of  West  Goshen,  Conn.,  and 
for  nine  years  previous  to  Mr.  Ta\  lor's  death  thev  made  Plv- 
mouth  their  home.  Airs.  Ta\  lor,  a  daughter  and  two  sons 
survive. 


334 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


%. 


Joseph  C.  Barthe. 


Alfred  B.  Renfree 


UIO(;i{Al'HICAI.    SKKTCHKS.  335 


C.   U.    MINOH. 


C  M.  iNiinor,  now  of  Bridgeport,  vvlio  was  born  in  W'ootlbury 
in  1817,  came  to  Plymouth  in  1833,  to  learn  the  tailor's  trade  of 
Deacon  B.  VV.  Root.  He  well  remembers  the  Rev.  Luther 
Hart,  and  saw  the  old  church  torn  down  and  the  new  one  built. 
He  married  Rev.  H.  D  Hitchel's  sister.  Mr.  Minor  recalls  the 
fact  that  in  1S39  he  saw  the  last  slave  ship,  the  Amistad,  which 
ever  entered  the  waters  of  Long  Island  Sound.  The  cargo  con- 
sisted of  forty-two  negroes  which  had  been  illegally  bought  in 
Havana,  Cuba.  They  were  taken  to  the  New  Haven  jail  antl 
held  until  it  was  decided  to  return  them  to  Africa. 

DR.    W.    W.    W'ELLINGTON. 

William  VVinthrop  Wellington  was  boin  in  Milford,  Mass., 
and  was  prepared  for  college  at  the  Milford  schools  and  by  W. 
H.  Dale,  M.  D.,  of  Boston,  Mass.  He  graduated  from  the 
medical  department  of  the  University  of  Vermont  at  Burlington. 
Dr.  Wellington  came  to  Terryville  nearly  six  years  ago  wdien 
Terryville  was  without  a  doctor,  antl  when  the  la  grippe  epi- 
demic was  at  its  height.  He  came  from  Hopkinton,  Mass.,  and 
now  occupies  the  house  owned  by  Henry  Fuller,  opposite  the 
Terryville  Park.  He  has  taken  special  and  private  instructions 
and  courses  in  all  branches  of  his  profession.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Litchfield  County  Medical  Society.  He  was  appointed 
coroner's  medical  examiner  in  1S94,  and  also  elected  town  health 
officer.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  and  Odd  Fellows' 
lodges.  He  was  married  to  Mrs.  Hattie  M.  Davis,  of  Boston, 
^lass.,  in  October,  1SS3. 

SAMUKI.     R.     TERRKLI,. 

Samuel  R.  Terrell,  now  in  his  sixt\-ninth  vear,  has  been 
steadily  in  the  employ  of  the  Eagle  Lock  Companv  for  many 
years.  He  is  a  respected  citizen  and  an  honor  to  his  town.  He 
enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  D,  19th  Regiment,  C.  V.  L, 
afterward  2d  Connecticut  Heavy  Artillery,  August  7,  1862, 
serving  three  years.  He  was  a  good  soldier,  and  while  on  duty 
was  one  of  the  cleanest  and  best  got  up  men  in  the  regiment. 
As  such,  he  was  rewarded  at  one  time  by  receiving  a  furlough  of 
twenty  days.  Mr.  Terrell  was  very  deaf  and  in  consequence 
was  considered  unfitted  for  a  soldier,  but  nevertheless,  performed 
his  duties  well  and  faithfully.  He  was  in  the  defences  and  w^ent 
to  the  front  with  the  regiment,  assisting  in  tearing  up  the  rail- 
road at  North  Anna,  and  was  in  several  skirmishes.  Lie  was 
with  Charles  Guernsey,  of  Plymouth,  when  he  was  wounded, 
June  22,  1S64,  and  assisted  in  taking  him  off  the  field.  Mr. 
Terrell  is  holding  his  own  and  bids  fair  to  live  to  a  ripe  old  age. 

GAIUS  FEXX. 

Gains  Fenn,  son  of  Jason  and  Martha  Fenn,  was  born  in 
Plymouth,  June  29,  17S4.       He  invented  and  obtained  a  patent 


336 


llISl()li\      OF     IM.ViMOU  III. 


Al"elon  H    Tavlor 


Dr.  W.  W.  Wellington. 


mOGHAI'IIICAI,    SKEICIIKS.  337 

for  the  Fenn  faucet  about  iSio,  and  with  his  brother,  Jason 
Fenn,  Jr.,  manufactured  tiiem  in  a  two-story  shop  which  stood 
on  Town  Hill  about  hfty  feet  south  of  the  house  now  owned  by 
Jason  C.  Fenn,  the  wood-house  now  used  by  Jason  C.  Fenn 
being  made  from  timbers  from  said  shop.  In  connection  w^th 
the  "Fenn  Faucet"  were  also  made  round  picture  and  looking 
glass  frames,  molasses  gates,  candlesticks  and  tumblers,  the 
metal  used  being  pewter,  or  fifty  pounds  block  tin  to  200  pounds 
lead.  The  tool  used  to  form  the  inside  of  the  tumbler  is  still  on 
the  premises.  The  faucet  business  was  removed  to  New  Haven, 
afterwards  to  New  York,  where  it  was  carried  on  by  the  Fenn 
familv  up  to  1859,  '*"*^  now  wherever  and  by  whom  made  thev 
bear  the  name  of  "  Fenn's."     Gains  Fenn  died  April  7,  1S54. 

ELAM    FENN. 

The  memory  of  Elam  Fenn  will  always  be  cherished  by  the 
community  to  which  he  belonged.  He  was  born  June  26, 
1797,  the  youngest  but  one  in  a  family  of  nine  children. 
His  parents  were  Jason  and  Martha  Potter  Fenn.  He  was  mar- 
ried February  13,  1816,  to  Lydia,  daughter  of  Timothy  Atwater. 
Mrs.  Fenn  died  February  3,  1S73,  and  eleven  years  later,  Aug- 
ust 21,  1884,  was  followed  by  her  husband.  Mr.  Fenn  lived  to  a 
ripe  old  age  and  died  in  the  same  house  where  he  was  born. 
The  aged  couple  celebrated  their  golden  wedding  February  13, 
1S66.  Four  persons  were  present  who  attended  the  original 
ceremony  fifty  years  before.  Mr.  Fenn  lived  an  upright  Chris- 
tian life  and  was  one  of  the  original  forty-nine  who  organized 
the  Congregational  Church  in  Terryville.  Of  his  home,  now 
owned  by  his  son,  Jason  C.  Fenn,  Rev.  L.  S.  Griggs  has 
written  : 

"  Town  Hill,  so  called,  is  a  widely  extended,  irregular,  ele- 
vation of  land,  occupying  a  large  area  in  the  central  portion  of 
the  town.  It  lies  a  little  to  the  south  of  a  direct  line  between  the 
\illage  of  Plymouth  Center  and  that  of  Terryville  in  the  same 
town,  two  miles  distant  to  the  east.  Ascending  this  hill  by  a 
road  which  crosses  the  highway  at  a  point  about  a  half  mile  west 
of  Terryville,  soon  after  reaching  the  broad  upland  at  the  sum- 
mit, we  come  to  a  dear,  old,  red  house,  on  the  left,  standing 
thirty  feet  or  so  back  from  the  road.  As  we  write,  here  lies  the 
deed  by  which  Joab  Camp  conveys  to  Jason  Fenn  (both  of  the 
town  of  Watertown  and  parish  of  Northbury),  several  'pieces  or 
parcels  of  land,  with  the  dwelling  house  and  barn  standing 
thereon  ' — this  very  house.  The  date  of  this  deed  is  the  '  first 
day  of  April,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  17S4,  and  of  the  Independ- 
ence of  America,  the  eighth.'  A  portion  of  the  covering  put  on 
a  hundred  years  ago  still  remains  in  a  good  state  of  preservation 
— whitewood  clapboards  fastened  with  wrought  iron  nails.  (The 
nails  were  made  by  hand,  of  iron  purchased  in  Sharon,  and 
brought  to  the  vic'nity  in  the  form  of  rods,  bent  so  as  to  be  con- 
veniently carried  on  horseback).  Red — lovinglv,  warmlv,  dur- 
ablv  red — is  this  house,  according  to  the  ancient  custom  of  house 


33S 


m.STOHV    OF    ri.^Mourn. 


Gains  FeiiD- 


Jason  Ft'iiti. 


nio(;KAi'jricAi,  sketches.  339 

painting.  Erect  and  lii m  it  stands,  with  two-storied  front,  some- 
what modernized  in  window  aiul  chimney  and  piazza,  but  in 
form  without  and  within  mucli  the  same  as  of  yore.  Witli  low 
ceilings,  dividetl  midway  by  broad  board-cased  beams  projecting 
downward,  the  rooms  of  this  (;ld  house  stoop  toward  their  occu- 
pants in  cosy  proximity. 

"■  Added  interest  is  given  to  the  premises  on  wliich  this  house 
stands  by  the  fact  that  the  first  minister  of  this  town.  Rev.  Air. 
Todd,  in  1739,  had  his  home  upon  them.  In  a  lot  on  the  slope 
northeast  of  the  house,  is  the  indentation  in  the  ground,  which 
marks  the  site  of  his  home,  now  only  a  depression  in  the  hillside. 
In  1S76,  the  centennial  of  our  country's  independence,  an  elm 
tree  was  planted  by  one  of  the  pastors  of  the  town,  upon  tiiat 
liome  site  of  the  first  pastor.  At  the  present  time  there  remains 
an  apple  tree — sole  relic  of  an  orchard  planted  in  the  days  of  Air. 
Todd.  A  peculiar  charm  invests  the  Fenn  homestead,  in  the 
wide  outlook  and  beautiful  panorama  which  it  ever  commands. 
Across  the  level  expanse  of  the  lots  which  lie  in  front  of  it,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  street,  the  far  away  highlands  of  the  west 
are  visible.  Among  the  last  homes  of  this  part  of  earth,  to 
which  the  setting  sun  flashes  his  evening  farewell,  is  the  old 
house  on  tiie  hill.  But  far  more  extensive,  comprehensive,  and 
diversified,  is  the  view  to  the  east.  Town  Hill  soon  declines 
from  the  rear  of  the  house,  sloping  steadily — yet  with  some  hesi- 
tations of  levei  reaches — towards  the  valley  where  lies  the  village 
of  Terryville — a  mingled  scene  of  houses  and  foliage,  and  factory 
walls  and  chimney  tops  ;  and  central  to  all  and  prominent  above 
all,  the  white  tower  of  the  church,  where,  for  nearlv  fifty  vears, 
the  subject  of  our  story  worshipped.  This  is  the  foreground. 
Beyond  lies  the  wide  landscape,  swelling  and  sinking,  shading 
from  green  to  blue,  until  the  sight,  flying  on  its  swift  wings, 
touches  the  horizon  soft  as  the  air  itself.  The  line  of  that  hori- 
zon is  twenty  miles  or  so  east  of  the  Connecticut  river — distant 
at  least  forty  miles  from  the  old  house  on  the  hill.  In  the  great 
area  between  the  signs  of  man  are  often  seen,  the  church  spire, 
the  fragments  of  a  village,  the  solitarv  home,  the  rising  smoke 
marking  factory  or  passing  railroad  train. 

"In  this  house  on  the  hill  was  born  the  man  whose  memorv 
we  cherish,  and  would  prolong  with  greater  distinctness  and 
lastingness  than  the  unaided  recollection  of  men  mifjht  eflect." 


ELAM    ATWATER    FEXN. 

Elam  Atwater  Fenn,  son  of  Elam  and  Lvdia  Fenn,  was  born 
at  Plymouth,  Conn.,  Alarch  2,  iS2i,and  was  married  October 
15,  1842,  to  Aliss  Alary  J.  Barker  of  Bristol.  Conn.  ;  removed 
to  Terryville  in  1843,  and  in  1S41  went  to  New  York  to  work 
for  Jason  and  Gains  Fenn,  manufacturers  of  Fenn  pewter  fau- 
cets, and  continued  with  them  about  eleven  vears,  when  he 
removed  to  Alichigan  in  18^2.  and  engaged  in  the  lumber  busi- 
ness from  1S60  to  1S71.  While  thus  in  business  lie  built  and 
presented  the  people  with  the  church  at  Fennville,   which   for 


340 


IllSrORV    OK    I'LV.MOU'I'II. 


Elam  Feiin. 


/Mrs.  EUun  ^emi 


lilOGKAI'IlK  AI.    SKKTCHIiS.  34 1 

twenty  years  was  the  pioneer  chuich  oftliat  section  of  the  State, 
Fennville  being  named  tor  liim  by  vote  of  the  citizens  assembled. 
In  iJ>9i  the  church  was  burned  and  a  more  modern  one  now 
takes  Its  phice  in  wiiicli  a  memorial  window  was  placed  that 
reads:  -^  In  loving  rememberance  of  Elam  A.  Fenn."  When 
Mr.  Fenn  ih-st  went  to  Fennville  he  had  just  resigneti  as  superin- 
tendent of  the  Sunday  vSchool  of  the  Washington  street  M.  E. 
Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  he  did  much  for  the  upbuilding 
of  the  Church  and  Sunday  School  at  Fennville.  The  terrible 
Michigan  fire  wiped  out  of  existence  all  his  earthly  possessions, 
which  would,  at  that  time,  have  netted  him  some  $20,000,  since 
which  time  Air.  Fenn  has  resitled  much  of  the  time  at  Allegan, 
Mich.,  engaged  in  manufacturing  and  wood  work.  He  has 
served  the  city  in  various  ways  as  president,  and  now  holds  the 
office  of  city  clerk.  Air.  Fenn,  who  is  now  seventy-four  years 
old  has  written  some  of  his  impressions  of  his  life  in  Plvmouth 
for  this  book  as  follows  : 

"  Plymouth  Center,  seventy  years  ago,  was  a  very  appropriate 
name  for  what  was  later,  and,  perhaps  is  at  the  present  day, 
called  Plymouth  Hill.  Not  so  much  on  account  of  geographical 
locality  in  the  township,  as  from  the  fact  that  it  was  the  real  hub 
of  the  surrounding  country  even  beyond  the  boundary  of  the 
township  in  every  direction.  It  was  a  thrifty,  enterprising  mart 
for  trade  as  well  as  the  seat  of  learning.  The  old  academy, 
which  was  located  east  of  the  green,  was  the  university  for  all 
that  region  of  country.  The  two  great  churches  which  stood 
upon  that  grand  old  Plymouth  green  were  large  indeed,  and  it 
seems  to  me  now  that  their  spires  pointed  heavenward  as  high 
as  the  ingenuity  of  man  could  get  them.  Then  there  were  those 
majestic  old  buttonwood  trees  which  adorned  the  green,  sending 
out  in  every  direction  their  numerous  branches,  some  of  them 
covering  more  ground  than  a  church  and  shooting  their  topmost 
branches  a  little  higher  every  year.  Nothwithstanding  their  vigor 
and  glory,  they  and  the  old  church,  of  precious  memory  to  me, 
were  removed,  like  the  old  father  and  mother,  to  make  room  for  a 
new  house  of  worship,  the  more  attractive  elm  trees,  and  a 
more  vigorous  and  progressive  generation. 

"As  I  turn  my  thoughts  backward  I  see  a  great  multitude 
of  people  gathering  at  the  Center  upon  the  Sabbath  day,  coming 
from  everv  point,  the  four  roads  which  center  at  Plymouth  being 
the  grand  trunk  with  numerous  branches  shooting  off  and  reach- 
ing out  to  the  remotest  and  most  obsciu'e  parts  of  the  parish,  and 
even  beyond  the  limits  of  the  township.  Some  came  in  wagons, 
some  on  horseback,  but  the  great  majority  were  on  foot.  The 
seating  of  the  Presbvterian  or  Congregational  Church,  which  was 
about  half  and  half,  where  my  father  attended,  is  indelibly  im- 
pressed upon  my  memory.  At  the  time  of  my  earliest  recollec- 
tion, seventy  years  ago.  Luther  Hart  was  the  pastor.  His 
place  in  the  church  was  up  two  flights  of  stairs,  securely  shut  in 
a  strong  box.  three  or  four  feet  high,  with  a  wheel  or  what  was 
called  a  sounding  board  about  eight  feet  in  diameter  suspended 
o\cr  his  head.      It  is  said  what  is  up  must  come  down,  and  that 


34- 


HISrOKV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Old  Tudd  Apple  Tree. 


Elam  A   Fenn 


IJIOGMAl'HlCAl.    SKETCIIKS.  343 

was  the  method  taken  to  get  his  voice  down  to  tlie  people  below. 
At  the  base  of  the  pulpit,  and  in  front  sat  the  yiave  old  deacons 
facing  the  congregation.  Deacon  Hemingway,  lather  of  Street 
and  Samuel;  Deacon  Dunbar,  father  of  Deacon  Ferrand,  were 
old  men  then  and  usually  occupied  that  seat.  The  other  deacons 
were  young  men  and  sat  there  only  on  comminiion  seasons. 
They  were  Andrew  Stoughton,  Tertius  D.  Potter,  Miles  Smith, 
Deacon  Tuttle,  who  lived  near  Wolcott,  VVm.  Judson  of  Plv- 
mouth  Hollow,  antl,  I  think,  Lyman  Baldwin.  The  old  people 
whose  faces  loom  up  familiarly  before  me  now  are  Deacon  Hem- 
ingway, who  lived  north  of  what  was  called  East  Church  ;  Escjs. 
Lake  Potter,  Joel  Langdon,  Ransom  Blakesle),  Sr.,  Linus 
Blakesley,  father  of  Deacon  Milo  Blakesley  ;  Captain  Smith, 
father  of  Oliver  and  Deacon  Miles  Smith  ;  Captain  Bull,  Ran- 
dall Warner,  Sr.,  Dr.  Woodrufl',  Sr.,  Jonatham  Ludington,  Mr. 
Primas  (colored),  Captain  Darrow,  the  undertaker;  Jonathan 
and  Philip  Pond,  Ambrose  Barnes,  Lemuel  Scovil,  who  lived  on 
the  place  of  the  late  Lyman  Tolles;  Captain  Camp,  father  of 
Hiram,  of  the  New  Haven  Clock  company;  David  Adkins,  Sr., 
father  of  Mason,  David  and  John;  John  Osborn,  father  of  jSIrs. 
Elam  'Camp  and  Merchant  Ives;  Thaddeus  Beach,  Sr. ,  Jacob 
Lattimore,  vStephen  Brainerd,  John  Brown,  Captain  Wells,  Sr., 
Daniel  Smith,  who  lived  opposite  the  Wyllys  Atwater  place, 
father  of  Sherman  and  the  late  Hon.  Erastus  Smith  of  Hartford  ; 
Jesse  Weed,  father  of  David  ;  Calvin  Butler,  Timothy  Atwater, 
Truman  Ives,  Sr.,  Captain  Stoughton,  father  of  Deacon  Andrew. 
No  doubt  there  were  others  who  do  not  materialize  before  me 
just  now. 

"The  most  prominent  of  the  next  generation  who  appear 
before  my  vision  just  now  for  recognition,  a  few  of  them  at  least, 
were :  Ammi  Darrow,  Elam  Camp,  Benjamin  Fenn,  Seth 
Thomas,  Henry  Terry,  Dr.  Abraham  Ives,  Apollos  Warner, 
Stephen  Mitchell,  'Squire  Mitchell,  Edward  Langdon,  Lucius 
Bradley,  Mr.  Coolev,  Ransom  Blakesley,  Sr.,  Joel  Blakesley, 
Rilev  and  William  Ives,  John  M.  Beach,  Solomon  Griggs,  Joel 
Griggs,  Landa  Beach,  Daniel  Beach,  David  Beach,  Thaddeus 
Beach,  Lemuel  Beach,  James  Beach,  Henry  Beach,  Daniel  Ad- 
kins, David  Adkins,  Jr.,  Mason  Adkins,  John  Adkins,  Chaun- 
cey  Bradley,  Levi  Scott,  Wyllys  Atwater,  Timothy  Atwater, 
Jr.,  Ferrand  Dunbar,  Mr.  Griffin,  Street  Hemingway,  Samuel 
Hemingway,  Wyllvs  Morse,  Nathan  Beach,  Milo  Blakesley, 
Jacob  Blakesley,  Erastus  Blakeslev,  Marcus  Cook,  Truman 
Cook,  Benajah  Camp,  Hiram  Camp,  Joseph  Sutlift",  John  Sut- 
liff,  Asahel  Pardee,  Lester  Smith,  David  Weed,  Lyman  Dun- 
bar, Hall  Dunbar,  Randall  Matthews,  Jared  Blakesle}-,  Elam 
Fenn,  Jason  Fenn,  Jr.,  Eli  Terry,  Jr.,  Phineas  Llitchcock,  Ly- 
man Baldwin,  Bennett  Warner,  Gains  F.  Warner,  Orson  Hall, 
Lyman  Hall,  Orren  Brainerd,  Jonathan  Pond,  Philip  Pond, 
Wyrum  Curtiss,  Silas  Hoadlev,  Eli  Potter,  Linus  Fenn. 

"Two  noteworthy  women  were  Mrs.  David  Sanford  and 
Mrs.  Daniel  Lane,  who  lived  upon  the  Wolcott  road  beyond 
Tolles  station.      Seldom  were  the\'  absent  from  their  respective 


344 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


The  Fenn  Homestead. 


^^•wbMwm^ 


jason  C    Fenn. 


HIOGHAl'JllCAI,    -bKK  1  CJIJ^S.  345 

churches  at  the  Center  upon  the  Sabbath  day.  I  have  seen  them 
going  there  through  blinding  snow  and  pelting  rain,  always  on 
loot,  and  happy  in  the  thought  that  tliey  were  in  the  line  of  duty. 

"  As  a  village,  Thoaiaston  was  very  small.  Then  it  was 
Plymouth  Hollow.  Terryville  had  not  then  been  thought  ol'. 
I  remember  when  the  first  clock  shop  was  built  by  Eli  Terry, 
Jr.,  and  went  with  my  father  to  the  raising  in  about  1827.  1 
can  count  on  my  fingers'  ends  every  house  between  Robert  John- 
son's, who  had  a  little  cooper  shop  at  the  place  now  owned  by 
Elizur  Fenn,  to  the  fork  of  the  road  branching  oil"  from  the  turn- 
pike in  Bristol  at  the  Silas  Carrington  place.  There  was  not  a 
house  from  that  point  west  until  you  came  to  the  Claudius  Allen 
place  where  the  post  office  is  now  kept  in  Terryville.  Where 
the  upper  lock  shop  now  stands  there  was  a  saw  mill  (not  ol 
modern  invention  however),  owned  by  Claudius  Allen. 

"  Rev.  Luther  Hart  was  a  familiar  figure  in  every  home  in 
the  whole  parish,  which  in  fact  embraced  the  whole  town. 
When  Mr.  Hart  was  a  caller  the  dinner  horn  announced  his 
coming,  and  all  responded  to  the  call  and  gathered  for  counsel 
and  prayer.  If  any  one  was  sick  it  was  as  much  expected  that 
Mr.  Hart  would  be  notified  as  that  a  physician  would  be  called, 
and  often  he  would  be  seen  coming  (always  riding  a  small  bay 
hoise)  and  arrive  before  the  physician.  When  watchers  were 
needed  to  care  for  the  sick  Mr.  Hart  always  saw  to  it  that  they 
were  provided.  Before  the  morning  sermon  on  Sunday  he 
would  mention  the  name  of  the  sick  person  and  ask,  'Who  will 
watch  to-night  ?'  when  some  one  would  arise  and  he  would  say 
one  is  provided.  Who  Monday  night  r  and  so  on  until  watchers 
were  provided  for  the  week.  Nearly  every  Sunday  there  was 
one  or  more  notices  read  like  this:  'Joseph  Brown  is  sick  and 
desires  the  prayers  of  the  church  that  he  may  be  restored  to 
health,  but  if  otherwise  determined  that  he  may  be  resigned  and 
prepared  for  the  Divine  will.'  After  the  death  and  burial  of  a 
person  it  was  expected  that  the  mourning  family  would  be 
together  in  their  pew  the  next  Sabbath,  before  the  morning 
prayer.  Mr.  Hart  would  mention  the  death  of  the  person  and 
say,  '  The  afflicted  family  (and  here  they  would  arise,  and  other 
sympathizing  friends)  desire  the  prayers  of  the  church  that  this 
affliction  may  be  sanctified  to  their  spiritual  and  eternal  good.' 
Then  he  would  mention  the  names  of  those  friends  who  had 
risen  with  the  family  and  say,  '  They  desire  to  join  in  the 
request.'  At  one  time  a  deaf  old  couple  mistook  the  reading  oi 
a  marriage  notice  for  that  of  a  death  notice.  They  were  tender 
hearted  people,  and  it  was  almost  a  universal  custom  for  them  to 
arise  as  sympathizing  with  bereaved  ones.  On  this  occasion 
they  arose  as  the  notice  of  marriage  was  read,  when  Mr.  Hart, 
true  to  his  nature,  with  a  broad  smile,  said  :  '  Ephraim  Hough 
and  wife  desire  to  join  in  sympathy  with  them.'  The  evidences 
of  solemnity  were  not  apparent  upon  the  faces  of  the  congregation. 

"  But  the  unwritten  history  of  Plymouth  and  the  old  church, 
100  years  ago,  will  not  be  revealed  bv  human  lips,  as  eye  wit- 
nesses are  but  few  that  can  testify  of  their  own  knowledge  who 


346  HISTORY    UK    PLYMOUTH. 

were  the  occupants  ol'  those  homes,  the  location  of  which  is 
marked  witli  cellar  walls  of  moss-covered  stones.  I  can  remem- 
ber live  generations  in  my  own  family  who  have  attended  church 
in  Plymouth — :ny  grandparents,  father  and  mother,  myself  and 
daughter,  my  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Crane  and  her  daughter,  who 
have  been  guests  of  their  aunt,  Mrs.  Cornelia  Stoughton,  the 
past  winter." 

JASON    C.    FENN. 

Jason  C.  Fenn.  judge  of  probate  and  town  clerk  of  Plymouth, 
son  of  Elam  and  Lydia  Atwater  Fenn,  was  born  October  27, 
183S,  in  the  house  now  owned  by  him,  and  which  was  purchased 
by  nis  grandfather,  Jason  Fenn,  in  17S4,  situated  on  Town  Hill. 
He  received  a  common  school  and  academic  education,  and  for 
thirty  years  was  clerk  in  stores.  He  is  a  member  and  deacon  of 
the  Terryville  Congregational  Church.  He  represented  the 
town  in  the  House  in  18S0;  has  served  the  town  as  selectman 
seven  years,  the  last  year  being  in  1S90,  when  a  building  was 
provided  in  Terryville  for  the  transaction  of  town  business,  and 
January,  1891,  having  been  elected  town  clerk,  he  removed  the 
town  records  and  papers  from  Plymouth  Center  to  the  new  town 
building.  January  5,  1893,  he  assumed  the  duties  of  judge  of 
probate,  and  removed  the  probate  records  and  papers  from  Ply- 
mouth Center,  both  of  which  offices  he  still  holds. 

Mr.  Fenn  is  the  originator  of  the  Fenn  patent  bridge,  which 
is  constructed  of  old  railroad  iron,  unsurpassed  for  strength, 
cheapness  and  durability,  and  tasty  in  appearance.  Several  of 
these  bridges  have  been  built  over  the  streams  in  Plymouth. 
With  the  exception  of  the  plank  flooring  and  a  few  compara- 
tively small   castings,   the   construction   is   entirely   of  old   rails. 

REV.    I.EVERETT    GRIGGS,   D.   D. 

There  seems  a  propriety  in  tlie  insertion  in  this  book  of  some 
account  of  the  Rev.  Leverett  Griggs,  D.  D.,  who  was  for  nearly 
fourteen  years  (February,  1856— December,  1S69),  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  church  of  Bristol,  and  who  resided  in  that  town 
nearly  twenty-seven  years  until  his  death,  Januaiy  28,  1883.  In 
periods  when  the  Congregational  church  of  Terryville,  was 
without  a  pastor,  he  was  often  called  upon  for  ministerial  service 
in  that  parish,  at  one  time  supplying  the  pulpit  for  many  Sab- 
baths in  succession.  And  once,  in  view  of  representations  made 
to  him  by  members  of  the  church  in  Terryville,  he  had  in  serious 
consideration  whether  he  would  encourage  that  church  to  extend 
a  call  to  himself  to  become  its  pastor.  And  it  was  largely  the 
result  of  the  mutual  regard  subsisting  between  the  church  of 
Terrvville  and  himself,  that  his  son.  Rev  Leverett  S.  Griggs, 
became  its  pastor  for  a  season. 

He  was  born  in  Tolland,  Conn.,  Nov.  17,  1808,  the  son  of 
Captain  Stephen  and  Elizabeth  (Lathrop)  Griggs.  His  grand- 
father, Ichabod  Griggs,  Jr.,  who  was  a  citizen  of  Tolland,  died 
a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  September  30,  1 77*^5  aged  32 
years,  and  was  buried  in  New   Rochelle,   N.  Y,     He  was  the 


hio(;kapiiicai.  ski:i  c  his.  347 

youngest  of  six  children.  He  married  Augusl  28,  1S33,  Catha- 
rine, (hiughter  of  Hon.  Elislia  (grachiate  Yale,  1796,)  and  Ce- 
linchi  (Baker)  Stearns  of  Tolhind.  She  vva.s  the  mother  of  six 
children,  and  died  in  Alillbur}',  Mass.,  March  10,  1848.  The 
following  are  the  names  of  her  children,  viz  :  Maria,  l)orn  July 
19,  1S34,  married  to  J.  Frank  Howe,  December  31,  1857; 
Catharine,  born  January  26,  1S36,  married  to  Benezet  H.  Bill, 
November  2,  18^9;  Leverett  vStearns,  born  February  16,  1S38, 
married  to  Cornelia  Little,  July  13,  1864;  Elizabetli  Celinda, 
born  March  ^,  1840,  married  to  Harlow  A.  Gale,  June  13,  1859; 
John  Lawrence,  born  April  21,  1843,  died  a  membeer  of  Com- 
pany G,  i6th  regiment,  Ccninecticut  Volunteers,  September  i, 
1862;  Joseph  Emerson,  born  July  13,  1847,  married  to  Ellen 
M.  Little,  January  3,  1S67.  He  married  November  30,  1S48, 
Charlotte  Ann  Stearns,  sister  of  the  former  wife,  who  became 
the  mother  of  four  children. 

Dr.  Griggs  was  born  and  reared  upon  a  farm.  He  had  but 
little  promise  of  long  life  in  childhood,  being  a  great  sutlerer 
from  salt  rheum.  So  severely  was  he  afflicted  with  that  distem- 
per in  infancy  that  a  neighboring  housewife  advised  his  mother  to 
give  him  something  to  put  him  out  of  his  misery,  saying:  "  He 
cannot  live,  and  if  he  does  live  he  never  will  know  anything  ;"  an 
opinion  he  often  quoted  in  later  years,  with  merriment,  some- 
times remarking  that  he  ought  to  be  patient  with  his  infirmity 
and  thankful  for  it,  because  it  was  the  occasion  of  his  being 
deemed  unequal  to  the  work  of  a  farmer,  and,  therefore,  had  an 
influence  in  opening  the  wav  for  his  reception  of  the  boon  ot  a 
collegiate  education. 

When  he  was  young  "general  training"  ol  the  militia  was 
the  great  day  of  all  the  year  for  the  boys.  Then  he  wasgiven  six 
and  a  quarter  cents  to  buy  ginger-bread  with.  Visiting  his  native 
town  in  the  later  years  of  life,  he  remarked  when  passing  a 
certain  house:  "Here  lived  so  and  so,  he  used  to  get  drunk, 
invariably,  on  training  da}'.  It  was  expected,  as  a  matter  ol 
course,  and  the  boys  did  not  think  the  day  complete  if  he  and 
another  man  from  the  northeast  part  of  the  town,  did  not  strip 
and  go  out  into  a  lot  to  fight,  so  drunk  that  they  could  not  harm 
each  other  much." 

He  was  prepared  for  college  in  part  by  Rev.  Ansel  Nash, 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Tolland  from  1813  to  1S31,  who  gave 
him  instruction  for  fift}'  cents  a  week.  As  he  was  applying 
himself  to  his  book  one  day  in  the  "  study,"  the  good  pastor  and 
wise  tutor  came  across  the  room  to  him,  and  putting  his  hand 
upon  the  bov's  shoulder,  said  :  "  Seest  thou  a  man  diligent  in  his 
business  ?  he  shall  stand  before  kings ;  he  shall  not  stand  before 
mean  men  "  Those  words  of  encouragement  electrified  the  lad 
and  had  a  lifelong  effect  of  good  upon  him.  After  further  tuition 
in  Monson  Academy,  Mass,  he  entered  college  in  1S25,  gradu- 
ating with  honor  in  1S29.  It  was  in  the  earlier  part  of  his  course 
at  Yale  that  he  gave  his  heart  to  God.  He  united  with  the  col- 
lege church  IMarch  2,  1827,  and  continued  a  member  of  that 
church  through  life,  a  iact  which  correctly  reports  his  strong  at- 


34S 


msroKv  OF   pi.^molhii. 


Rev.  Leverett  Griggs 


J    C   Griggs 


iiio(;i{Ai'iiit'Ai,  sKK'i  e  iii:s. 


349 


tachment  for  Yale  c()llc<4e.  Pie  taught  for  a  year  as  an  assistant 
at  IMount  Hope  Seininaiy,  a  school  for  boys  in  Baltimore,  Md., 
and  then  pursued  the  study  of  theology  at  Andover  and  New 
Haven,  acting  as  tutor  in  Yale  College  while  studying  theology 
in  the  Yale  Divinity  vSchool.  Declining  a  call  to  the  North 
church  of  New  Haven,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of 
the  Congregational  church  of  North  Haven,  October  30,  1833. 
His  college  room-mate  and  very  intimate  friend,  Rev.  Edwin  K. 
Gilbert,  had  been  settled  in  Wallingford,  the  next  parish  on  the 
north,  in  October,  1832.  Nearly  twelve  happy  and  fruitful  years 
were  spent  in  North  Haven.  A  church  and  parsonage  were 
built.  There  were  accessions  to  the  membership  of  the  church 
aggregating  two  hun(h'ed  and  twenty-six.  After  the  lapse  of 
fiftv  years  the  name  of  Dr.  Griggs  is  still  "  like  ointment  poured 
forth,"  in  the  parish  of  North  Haven. 

He  was  settled  subsequently  in  New  Ha^•en,  pastor  of  the 
Chapel  street  church,  now  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer;  in  Mill- 
bury,  Mass.,  and  in  Bristol,  Conn.  His  ministry  was  largely 
blessed  in  all  these  places.  His  ai/iia  »iaft'r  con^eYied  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Divinity  upon  him  in  186S.  Many  of  his  sermons 
and  other  productions  have  been  preserved  in  printed  form.  He 
was  a  man  of  surpassingly  genial  disposition,  full  of  the  spirit  of 
kindness,  and  endowed  with  exceptional  tact  in  dealing  with 
peoj^le.  There  was  fitness  to  himself  in  what  he  wrote  of  his 
mother  soon  after  her  death  in  1845  :  "  She  was  one  of  the  most 
*  *  cheerful  and  even  tempered  persons  that  ever  lived."  He 
had  the  gift  of  utterance,  always  saying  with  apparent  ease  that 
which  was  happily  suited  to  the  occasion.  At  the  same  time  he 
was  a  p\a\n  and  faithful  preacher  of  righteousness,  fulfilling  to  a 
large  degree  the  command,  "  Reprove,  rebuke,  exhort  with  all 
long  suflering  and  doctrine."  Of  his  countenance,  thus  wrote  a 
brother  minister  who  had  long  known  him  :  "  Few  ever  had 
such  a  loving,  speaking,  sweet  face;  itself  a  letter  of  credit." 
He  served  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  century  as  acting  school  vis- 
itor in  Bristol,  and  he  esteemed  it  "  one  of  the  highest  honors  " 
he  "  ever  received,"  that  the  freemen  of  Bristol  assembled  in 
town  meeting,  October  8,  1881,  unanimously  recommended  that 
the  selectmen,  in  view  of  the  great  value  of  his  services  in  "  elev- 
ating and  advancing  to  increased  usefulness  our  common  schools," 
"to  abate  his  taxes  as  long  as  he  continues  his  residence  with 
us."  He  was  stricken  with  partial  paralysis,  July  4,  1S81,  a 
disaster  which  was  hastened  apparently  by  the  shock  received 
from  the  tidings  of  the  attempted  assassination  of  President  Gar- 
field. A  second  attack  of  the  malady,  October  29  of  the  same 
year,  prostrated  him  completely,  but  a  year  and  three  months 
elapsed  before  he  passed  awav,  departing  this  life  on  a  Sabbath 
evening,  as  he  had  hoped  might  be  the  fact.  It  was  the  evening 
of  January   28,  1SS3. 

REV.    I.E\'ERETT    STEARNS    GRIGGS. 

Rev.  Leverett  .Stearns  Griggs,  who  is  now  located  at  Ivorv- 
ton,  is  the  son  of  Rev.  Leverett  Giiggs,  D.  D.,  and  Mrs.  Catli- 


3SO  iiisrouv   OF   Pl,^AIou^Jl. 

arine  Stearns  Griggs,  and  was  born  in  North  Haven,  Conn., 
February  i6,  1S3S,  his  father  being  at  the  time  pastor  of  tiie  Con- 
gregational Church  in  that  place.  He  is  the  third  of  ten  children, 
the  four  youngest  being  the  children  of  a  second  mother,  Mrs. 
Charlotte  Stearns  Griggs.  He  prepared  for  college  at  the  High 
School  in  Millbury,  Mass.,  graduated  at  Amherst  College  in 
1S60;  studied  theology  at  Yale  and  Lane  theological  seminar- 
ies, 1S60-1863;  was  ordained  June  33,  1S64;  was  married  July 
13,  1864,  to  Miss  Cornelia  Little,  daughter  of  Rev.  Henry  and 
Mrs.  Susan  N.  Little,  of  Madison,  Ind.  ;  was  Home  Missionary 
pastor  at  Spring  Valley,  Minn.,  1863-1S66;  at  Owatonna,  Minn., 
1866-1869;  pastor  at  Lowell,  Mich.,  1S70-1872;  at  Collinsville, 
Conn.,  1872-1874;  at  Terryville,  1874-1S87;  became  pastor  of 
the  Congregational  Church  of  Centerbrook  and  Ivoryton,  Conn., 
1887.  The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Griggs  are  seven,  John 
Cornelius  Griggs,  Ph.  D.,  George  Day  (died  18S6),  Jessie 
Leveretta,  Alice  Warner,  Katharine  Charlotte,  Henry  Little  and 
Susan  Little.      The  three  last  named  were  born  in  Terrvville. 


JOHN    CORNELIUS    GRIGGS. 

John  Cornelius  Griggs,  son  of  Rev.  L.  S.  and  Mrs.  C.  L. 
Griggs,  was  born  in  Spring  Valley,  Fillmore  County,  Minn., 
September  39,  i86v  The  family  having  removed  to  the  east  he 
began  to  attend  school  in  Collinsville,  Conn.,  where  his  father 
was  pastor  in  that  village  ;  was  afterward  a  pupil  for  years  in  the 
schools  of  Terryville  ;  worked  for  one  year  in  the  factory  of  the 
Eagle  Lock  Co.,  and  after  a  three  years'  course  in  the  public 
high  school  of  Hartford,  graduated  from  that  institution  in  1S85. 
Entering  Yale  University  the  same  year,  he  graduated  in  due 
course  of  time,  a  member  of  the  class  of  1889.  He  was  for  the 
two  years  immediately  following,  an  instructor  in  the  Free 
Academy  of  Norwich.  He  married,  July  33,  1890,  Miss  Anne 
Cooke,  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  W.  Cooke,  of  Yalesville, 
Conn.  He  went  abroad  in  the  summer  of  1891  for  purposes  of 
study  and  training  in  the  art  of  vocal  music.  The  larger  part 
of  the  two  years  passed  in  Europe  by  himself  and  family  were 
spent  in  Leipsic,  where  a  son,  Leverett  Griggs,  was  born 
March  25,  1893.  Having  completed  a  prescribed  course  of 
studv  in  the  university  of  Leipsic,  Mr.  Griggs  received  from 
that  institution,  in  1S93,  the  degree  of  Ph.  D.,  /iiagiia  cum  laiide. 
He  returned  to  the  United  States  the  same  year,  and  having 
already  accepted  an  appointment  on  the  staff' of  instructors  in  the 
Metropolitan  College  of  Music  in  New  York  City,  soon  entered 
upon  duty  there,  in  which  position  he  still  remains. 

THOMAS     RUNVEI.L. 

The  veteran  teamster  of  Plymouth,  Thomas  Bunnell,  was  a 
familiar  figure  for  fiftv-two  years  in  his  line  of  business.  He  was 
born  in  Burlington,  this  State,  November  9,  1806,  and  was  the 
voungest  son  of  Nath:uiiel   Bunnell,  who,  at  the  age  of  twentv, 


HIOIJKAI'HU  AL    SKKTCIIKS.  35  I 

went  to  New  Lontlon,  enlisted  in  the  Continental  arnn  and  was 
present  on  the  memorable  '•'6th  of  Septemhei"  when  Arnold 
burnt  the  town."  lie  came  to  Terryville  in  1S27,  and  taught 
school  in  the  old  red  school  house,  afterward  taking  up  the  busi- 
ness of  carrying  freigiit,  the  goods  consigned  to  him  coming 
through  the  old  canal  to  Plainville,  and  from  there  distributed 
through  the  country  between  this  place  and  Bristol  Basin,  as 
Plainville  was  then  called. 

His  teaming  business  dates  from  the  year  1843,  when  he 
/  drove  to  Hartford  every  other  day  for  freight,  and  on  the  inter- 
vening days  made  a  trip  to  Plainville.  This  he  continued  to  do 
until  1S55,  when  the  railroad  pushed  its  way  out  to  this  region. 
He  then  established  the  teaming  industry  between  Terryville 
and  Thomaston,  and  daily  carried  loads  of  merchandise  over  the 
hills  of  Litchfield  county  from  1S55  to  1SS7,  when  he  transferred 
his  business  to  Arthur  C.  Bunnell,  his  son  Besides  the  regular 
freight  business  mentioned,  Mr.  Bunnell  did  all  the  team  work 
for  manufacturers  in  this  place  for  many  years,  and  his  life  is 
thus  closely  allied  to  the  business  history  of  the  community.  He 
was  first  employed  by  H.  Welton  &  Co.,  next  for  Lewis  &  Gay- 
lord,  and  then  for  James  Terry  &  Co. 

After  the  Eagle  Lock  Company  was  formed,  he  did  all  their 
teaming  for  nearly  twenty  years,  and  for  a  number  of  years  all 
the  teaming  for  Andrew  Terrv  &  Co.  He  was  a  citizen  uni- 
versally esteemed  by  the  entire  community.  He  left  several  sons 
and  grandsons  who  are  natural  born  teamsters,  and  carry  on  a 
good  business  in  this  place  and  Bristol. 

LYMAN    TOLLES. 

Lyman  Tolles,  son  of  Lyman  and  Marcia  Russell  ToUes, 
was  born  in  Plymouth,  IVIarch  16,  iSo3,  and  died  May  37,  1S94. 
He  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  Almira,  daughter  of 
Luther  and  Martha  Thomas  Andrews.  In  1827  he  settled  on  a 
farm  in  the  southeast  part  of  the  town,  where  he  lived  until  his 
death.  His  second  wife  was  Jeannette  Howe.  Mr.  Tolles  was 
the  father  often  children  : 

Robert  married  Mary  R.  Graham  of  Windham.  N.  Y  , 
moved  to  Wisconsin  in  1858,  and  was  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers 
of  Eau  Claire,  and  with  his  brother-in-law  founded  a  lumber 
and  machine  mill,  which  now  is  a  large  and  flourishing  business 
plant.  He  died  in  1879,  leaving  a  wife  and  two  sons,  Charles 
L.  and  DeVVitt  G.,  who  still  reside  there. 

Martha  A.  married  Ralph  H.  Guilford  of  Waterburv,  who 
settled  in  Cheshire  and  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  buttons, 
and  was  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  brass  mill  for  a  number  of 
years  until  his  death  in  18S6.  They  had  four  children,  Irving 
"G.,  Annie  A.,  Mary  L.,  Thomas  H. 

Martin  worked  in  Terryville  in  the  lock  shop  for  several 
years  and  went  to  Beloit,  Wis.,  in  1S56.  In  1S59  '^^  went  to 
Eureka,  Kan.,  where  he  married  jVIargaret  Turner.  He  died  at 
Cedar  Vale,  Kan.,  in  1S76. 


352 


H1S'10K\      OF     HI.'iMOU'lH. 


Thomas  Bunnell 


Lvman  Tolles. 


BIOGKAPIIICAI.    SKETCHES  2>~,2t 

Mary  J.  manied  Oliver  Baily,  who  settled  in  Terryville 
as  contractor  and  builder,  and  who  died  in  1866,  leaving  a  wife 
and  one  daughter,  Julia  A. 

Harriet  A.  resides  at  the  okl  homestead,  and  for  manv  vears 
has  been  an  invalid. 

Henry  married  Harriet  E.  Prince,  who  died  in  1S82.  He 
died  in  1S89,  leaving  four  children,  Frederick  L.,  Nellie  P., 
Nathan,  Martin. 

Samuel  L.  remained  at  home  to  care  for  his  father  and  the 
farm,  and  still  resides  there,  its  present  owner. 

Sarah  L.  married  William  H.  Basham  of  Naugatuck,  who 
have  four  children,  William   L.,  Plattie  A.,  Essie    J.,  Sarah   E. 

Esther  M.  married  Milo  Tomlinson  of  Plymouth. 

Norie  E.  married  Newton  B.  Eddy  of  Bristol,  who  moved 
to  New  Haven,  worked  for  the  New  Haven  Clock  Companv 
several  years,  but  is  now  engaged  in  farming.  They  have  two 
children,  George  L.,  Carrie  B. 

Mr.  Tolles  was  a  man  of  great  activity,  strong  and  vigorous 
in  mind  and  body,  and  with  the  exception  of  failing  eyesight, 
retained  all  his  faculties  until  his  last  illness.  In  1872  he  accom- 
panied his  son  Robert  to  his  home  in  Wisconsin,  visiting  friends 
on  the  way  in  New  York,  Pittsburg  and  Cleveland,  O.,  where 
his  only  sister  then  resided.  He  was  interested  in  all  the  events 
of  the  day  of  a  social  na'.ure.  He  delighted  in  gathering  his 
children  and  grandchild' en  around  him,  and  the  birthday  and 
Thanksgiving  feasts  under  the  paternal  roof  will  be  among  the 
pleasant  memories  of  their  lives. 

MILO    TOMLINSON. 

Milo  Tomlinson  was  born  at  Mt.  Toby,  Plymouth,  in  May, 
1852.  He  was  twice  married,  his  first  wife  being  Harriet  A. 
White.  They  had  one  child,  Mabel  E.,  born  in  1878.  He 
married  in  1SS3  for  his  second  wife  Esther  M.  Tolles,  daughter 
of  Lyman  Tolles.  They  had  four  children,  Amy  J.,  Irving  M.. 
Robert  v.,  George  L.  Mr.  Tomlinson  died  in  1892.  He  was 
a  stirring  and  enterprising  farmer,  and  owned  a  large  farm,  his 
residence  being  nearly  in  the  center  of  a  fiftv  acre  meadow. 

CORNELIUS    R.    WILLIAMS  AND  FAMILY. 

Cornelius  R.  Williams  was  born  in  Rocky  Hill,  Conn., 
August  7,  1805.  His  mother  was  a  Robbins.  Both  families 
have  been  in  the  Connecticut  valley  below  Hartford  for  half  a 
dozen  generations.  He  left  home  at  the  age  of  seventeen  and 
worked  in  New  York  City.  For  several  years  he  was  a  clock 
manufacturer  in  Unlonville,  Conn.,  and  Alton,  111.  He  became 
a  resident  of  Plymouth  about  1847,  residing  first  on  Town  Hill 
near  the  Elam  Fenn  place.  In  18^0  he  removed  to  the  house  in 
the  eastern  part  of  Terryville,  which  was  his  home,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  years  spent  in  Rocky  Hill,  until  his  death, 
August  28,  1880,  aged  seventy-five  years.  He  married  Caroline 
Hooker,  September  4,  1S31.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Ira  Hooker, 
long  time  a  deacon  in  the  Bristol  Congregational  Church,  and 


354 


HISrcjKY    OF    PL'i.MOU'JH. 


Milo  Tomlinson. 


Rev    Moseley  H.  Williams 


i?i()(;i!ApnuAi.  sKi;iciiES.  355 

was  a  descendent  in  the  sixth  generation  of  Rev.  Thomas 
Hooker,  who  became  the  first  minister  of  the  Center  Church, 
Hartford,  about  1633.  Mrs.  Williams  was  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Julia 
E.  Stoughton,  widow  of  Andrew  Stoughton.  Several  children 
were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Williams,  of  whom  only  three  sur- 
vive— Rev.  Horace  R.  Williams  of  Michigan,  Rev.  Moseley  H. 
Williams  of  Philadelphia,  and  Mrs.  Fannie  A.  Mix,  wife  of 
Elisha  Mix,  Jr.,  of  Stamford. 

Rev.  Horace  R.  Williams  was  born  in  Farmington,  Conn., 
in  1S35,  and  came  with  the  family  to  Plymouth  when  thirteen 
vears  old.  He  attendend  school  in  the  Terryville  Institute,  when 
it  was  first  opened,  but  completed  his  preparation  for  college  at 
Kimball  Union  Academy,  Aleriden  N.  H.  He  graduated  from 
Amherst  College  in  1S60,  and,  after  teaching  one  year,  from 
Union  Theological  Seminary  in  1S64.  In  May  of  that  same 
year  he  was  ordained  to  the  ministery  in  Terryville,  by  a  council 
called  by  the  Congregational  Church  there,  of  which  church  he 
was  a  member,  and  went  immediately  to  the  pastorate  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Almont,  Mich.,  where  he  remained 
sixteen  years.  After  that  he  was  pastor  in  Vermontville  six 
years,  in  Clinton  seven  years,  and  is  now  pastor  in  Richmond, 
all  these  places  being  in  the  same  state — Michigan.  He  married 
Amelia  R.  Bulkeley  of  Rocky  Hill,  Conn.,  in  iS6v  Her 
grandfather  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1796.  They  have  two 
children,  Walter  B.  Williams,  now  of  Stamford,  Conn.,  and 
Neil  Hooker  Williams,  who  recently  graduated  at  the  University 
of  Michigan. 

Rev.  Moseley  H.  Williams  was  born  in  Farmington,  Conn., 
December  23,  1839.  ^^  ^^^^  ^  ^^Y  ^^  seven  when  the  family 
came  to  Plymouth.  His  first  experience  in  a  Terrvville  school 
was  under  Mrs.  Allen,  wife  of  R.  D.  H.  Ailen,  who  was  then 
principal.  He  attended  school  at  Kimball  Union  Academy, 
Meriden,  N.  H.,  and  Williston  Seminary,  Easthampton,  Alass., 
and  spent  four  years  at  Yale  College,  graduating  in  the  class  of 
1864.  After  a  theological  course  of  three  years  at  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  New  York,  and  Andover  Seminary,  Massa- 
chusetts, he  was  a  pastor  in  Philadelphia,  Penn.,  Brooklvn,  N. 
Y. ,  and  Portland,  Me.  Since  1879  he  has  been  in  the  editorial 
work  of  the  American  Sunday-School  Union  in  Philadelphia, 
and  assisted  in  the  preparation  of  Dr.  Schaft^'s  Dictionary  of  the 
Bible,  Dr.  Rice's  People's  Commentaries  on  the  Gospels  and 
other  works.  He  married  Emma  V.  Bockius  of  Philadelphia, 
and  has  four  children,  of  whom  the  oldest  graduated  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  and  took  a  theological  course  at  Yale 
Divinity  School  and  Princeton  Theological  Seminarv. 

Fannie  A.  Williams  married  Elisha  Mix.  Jr.,  December  14, 
1S75.  They  have  resided  in  Bridgeport,  Pennsylvania,  New 
Britain  and  Stamford,  and  have  five  children. 

THOMAS    HIGGINS. 

Thomas  Higgins  has  been  a  resident  of  Terryville  for  about 
forty-three  years.      He  was  one  of  the  three  Catlolics  who  met 


356 


lIISrOKY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


ir*      ^Ihr**-'* 


Thomas  F    Higgiiis. 


William  Robinson's  Residence. 


lUOCiKAl'IllCAL    SKKTCllHS.  357 

in  tlie  Philip  C.  Ryan  residence  after  Father  O'Neill  of  Water- 
bury  was  engaged  to  preach  there.  AJr.  Iliggins  is  now  about 
seventy  years  of  age.  One  of  his  sons,  Thomas  F.  Higgins,  was 
appointed  postmaster  of  Terry ville  in  1894.  When  appointed, 
he  bought  out  the  confectionery  and  stationery  business  of 
W.  E.  Fogg,  and  moved  it  into  the  building  opposite  the  hotel. 
He  graduated  from  Eastman's  College,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. 
Sarah  A.  devotes  much  of  her  time  to  assisting  Mr.  Higgins  in 
the  post  olFice.  James  B.  is  employed  by  the  Eagle  Lock  Com- 
pany. jSIichael  C.  is  superintendent  of  a  life  insurance  company 
in  Norwich,  Conn.  Lizzie  C.  is  engaged  as  school  teacher  in 
Tliomaston.  Joseph  J.  is  a  physician  and  surgeon  in  New 
York  City,  and  graduated  from  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons' 
College  of  New  York. 

CHAUNCEY    BRADLEY. 

Chauncey  Bradley,  who  died  May  10,  1886,  was  one  of 
Plymouth's  most  respected  residents.  He  lived  a  quiet  life  on 
his  farm,  situated  about  the  center  of  the  town,  and  was  for 
many  years  assessor.  He  did  his  duty  conscientiously  and  well. 
He  lived  to  the  ripe  old  age  of  seventy-eight  years,  his  wife 
having  died  several  years  before.  Mrs.  David  W.  Eggleston, 
who,  with  her  husband,  resides  in  Bristol,  was  the  only  child 
of  this  union. 

WILLIAM    ROBINSON. 

William  Robinson  came  to  Terryville  about  seven  vears  ago, 
from  Thomaston,  and  bought  what  is  known  as  the  Griffin  place, 
situated  about  one  mile  northwest  of  Terryville  Center,  from 
Charles  Dayton.  He  has  since  then  carried  on  the  milk  busi- 
ness, increasing  it  by  the  purchase  of  the  milk  route  of  Charles 
Allen.  He  keeps  from  fourteen  to  sixteen  head  of  stock.  He 
also  does  a  great  deal  of  market  gardening.  Pleasant  View 
Farm,  as  Mr.  Robinson's  place  is  called,  furnishes  an  excellent 
view  of  the  surrounding  country.  Mr,  Robinson  is  a  native  of 
Canada,  and  married  Aliss  Maggie  Hull  of  Canada  in  1S90,  by 
whom  he  has  one  daughter.  The  property  now  owned  by  Mr. 
Robinson  has  been  obtained  by  hard  work,  prudence  and 
economy. 

AUGUSTUS    C.    SHELTON. 

Augustus  Canby  Shelton,  the  founder  and  senior  member  of 
the  tirm  of  Shelton  &  Tuttle,  carriage  manufacturers,  in  the 
town  of  Plymouth,  Conn.,  was  born  in  Plymouth,  February  7, 
1S16,  and  died  in  that  town,  August  37,  1880,  at  the  age  of 
sixt\-four  years.  He  was  of  the  fifth  generation  in  descent  from 
Daniel  Shelton,  the  founder  of  the  New  England  branch  of  the 
family,  who  came  to  this  country  from  England  about  1687,  and 
settled  in  Stratford  (now  Huntington),  in  this  State. 

Daniel,  the  original  ancestor  of  the  New  England  families 
bearing  the  Shelton  name,  came  from  the  town  of  Rippon,  Der- 
byshire   County,    England.      He    was    one    of  the    non-resident 


358 


HISTORY    OP'    PLYMOUTH. 


Philip  C   Ryan 


The  Rvan  Homestead. 


J510(;i{Al'IIICAI.    SKICTCHES.  359 

proprietors  of  Watcrbury,  as  appears  by  the  grant  of  Governor 
Saltonstall,  bearing  date  of  October  28,  1720.  lie  had  nine 
chiUhcn,  seven  sons  and  two  daugliters.  I  lis  ibnrtli  son,  Sam- 
nel,  was  l)orn  in  170-I.  lie  had  fourteen  children,  eight  sons 
and  six  daughters.  His  third  son,  Daniel,  was  born  June  16, 
1 741.  He  had  nine  children,  live  sons  and  four  daughters.  His 
fourth  son,  Joseph,  was  born  October  20,  1783.  He  had  eleven 
children,  live  sons  and  six  daughters.  Of  ihese  sons  Augustus 
Canby  was  the  second,  being  the  fourth  child.  His  middle  name 
he  took  from  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Martha 
Canby. 

The  original  proprietor  of  the  Shelton  estate,  in  what  is  now 
the  town  of  Plymouth,  was  David  Shelton,  the  grandson  of  the 
original  Daniel,  and  the  grandfather  of  Augustus  C.  His  estate 
lay  in  what  is  now  called  Todd  Hollow,  and  was  an  extensive 
one,  comprising  some  three  thousand  acres.  He  also  owned 
land  in  Stamford  and  Kent. 

Joseph  vSlielton,  the  father  of  Augustus,  was  a  merchant 
and  f;irmer.  ^Vugustus'  early  years  were  passed  on  his  father's 
farm,  where  he  acquired  those  habits  of  industry  which  charac- 
terized him  through  life.  At  the  usual  age  he  went  to  Harwin- 
ton  to  learn  the  trade  of  wheelwright,  serving  his  time  there  with 
Lewis  Smith.  From  there  he  went  to  New  Haven,  where  he 
worked  three  years  in  the  carriage  establishment  of  George 
Hoadley.  He  then  returned  to  Plymouth,  and  in  1837  entered 
upon  the  business  of  carriage  making  on  his  own  account.  For 
the  first  three  years  he  worked  in  a  small  building  now  occupied 
as  a  dwelling  house.  At  that  time  the  trade  was  mainly  south- 
ern. In  1S55  Mr.  Shelton  took  in  B\ron  Tuttle.  For  several 
years  the  business  was  prosperous.  For  six  years  all  the  carri- 
ages made  by  the  firm,  went  west.  The  southern  business  was 
broken  up  by  the  war,  while  the  western  trade  was  improved. 
This  continued  until  186S,  when  the  business  began  to  wane, 
and  in  1S70  the  company  sold  out  the  Chicago  establishment, 
and  the  partnership,  so  far  as  the  business  of  manufacturing  was 
concerned,  was  dissolved,  the  partners  still  holding  the  property 
together.  From  that  time  until  his  death,  Mr.  Shelton  carried 
on  the  business  in  a  limited  wav. 

Mr.  Shelton  was  married  November  19,  185S,  to  Ellen  A. 
Crook.  His  children  are:  John  Canby,  born  May  14,  1S60, 
died  September  13,  1S60;  Mary  Jane,  born  September  29,  1863; 
Frances  Pauline,  born  June  9,  1865  ;  Ellen  Augusta,  born  May 
20,  1S70;   Milla  Canby,  born  August  6,  1876. 

The  immediate  occasion  of  Mr.  Shelton's  death  was  a  slight 
wound  in  the  finger,  the  inflammation  of  which  proved  fatal. 

PHILIP    C.    RYAN. 

Philip  C.  Ryan  and  family  came  to  Terry ville  about  1845, 
and  was  the  first  Irish  family  that  settled  in  the  town.  His 
brother,  Denis  Ryan,  who  came  here  some  time  before  him, 
was  the  first  slng-le  Irishman  to  make  Plvmouth  his  home.      He 


36o 


HISrORV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


William  B    Ells. 


Richard  Baldwin's  Residence,  Terryville. 


BIO(;KArJllCAL    .SKlilClIKS.  361 

was  engaged  on  the  farm  at  Town  Ilill,  owned  by  Air.  Brainard, 
and  was  soon  alter  married  to  Mr.  Brainard's  danghter,  Miss 
Nora,  by  whom  he  had  three  children,  one  son  and  two  daugh- 
ters. Many  amusing  stories  are  now  told  by  the  older  inhab- 
tants  ot"  the  town  in  connection  with  the  first  appearance  ot 
Mr.  Ryan  in  the  place.  The  name  of  Denis  Ryan  is  the  first 
name  of  a  foreigner  that  appears  on  the  town  voting  list,  and 
both  his  and  Philip  C.  Ryan's  appear  often  on  the  old  land 
records.  Denis  was  also  the  first  Irishman  buried  in  the  town, 
and  upon  his  death,  Philip  C.  bought  and  presented  the  land, 
which  afterwards  became  known  as  the  Catholic  Cemetery.  The 
old  homestead,  of  which  a  picture  appears  here,  is  situated  on  the 
street  nearly  opposite  the  old  Andrew  Fenn  place,  and  in  it 
Father  O'Neil  of  Waterbury  held  the  first  Catholic  services  that 
were  held  in  the  town.  Before  that  Philip  C.  made  many  trips 
on  foot  to  New  Haven  and  back  to  attend  the  Catholic  Church 
there,  and  at  other  times  Philip,  Denis  and  James,  who  came 
here  soon  after  the  arrival  of  Denis,  all  attended  the  Congrega- 
tional services  here.  Upon  the  death  of  Philip,  which  occurred 
in  1864,  in  the  forty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  his  funeral  v^^as 
attended  by  the  pastor  and  members  of  the  Congregational 
Church.  The  children  of  Philip  C.  Ryan  are:  John  D.  of 
Middletown,  Conn.,  Fallah  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Mary  Ann  of 
Terryville,  James  F.  of  New  York  City,  Catherine  of  Water- 
burv,  Nora  of  New  York  City,  Delia  of  New  Britain,  and 
Philip  C.  of  Terryville. 

MAJOR    W.    15.    ELLS. 

Major  William  B.  Ells,  who  was  one  of  Terryville's  best 
known  and  respected  residents,  died  May  ii,  1893. 

He  was  born  in  Milford,  February  14,  1840,  and  was  the 
son  of  Harvey  and  Julia  Ells  of  that  town.  When  a  young  man 
he  came  to  Terryville  to  live.  He  entered  the  Eagle  Lock  Com- 
pany's works,  and  for  over  thirty-five  years  he  had  been  a  faith- 
ful worker  for  that  company's  best  interest,  as  well  as  the  welfare 
of  Terryville.  Early  in  the  war  he  left  his  work  bench  in  the 
old  "upper"  shop  to  fight  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 
Enlisting  May  23,  1861,  he  became  sergeant  of  Company  I, 
First  Connecticut  Volunteer  Artillery,  then  the  Fourth  Connect- 
icut Infantry.  He  was  promoted  to  captaincy  March  7,  1864, 
and  served  through  the  first  Peninsular  campaign  with  distinc- 
tion. He  was  transferred  to  the  Nineteenth  Connecticut  Volun- 
teers (afterwards  the  Second  Connecticut  Pleavy  Artillery),  at 
Alexandria,  Va.,  September  24,  1862. 

He  was  present  at  the  siege  of  Yorktown  and  battles  of 
Hanover  Court  House,  Chickahominy,  Gaines's  Mill,  Malvern, 
Hill  and  Cold  Harbor,  where  he  was  promoted  to  major.  He 
was  acknowledged  to  be  the  best  drill  officer  and  disciplinarian 
in  the  whole  regiment  and  was  a  favorite  with  Colonel  Kellogg, 
who  commanded  the  regiment  at  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor, 
where  in  June  i,  1864,  Major  Ells  commanded  the  Third  Bat- 
talion of  the  regiment  and  was  wounded  by  a  shot  in  one  leg. 


362 


HlSrORV    OF    PLVMOUTH. 


Henry  E.  Hinmnii 


Andrew  GaylorJ's  Residence. 


BIOGKAI'HK  AI,    SKETCHES.  363 

which  made  him  a  cripple  for  main  years,  and  tVom  the  ellbcts 
of  which  he  never  recovered. 

As  he  was  a  brave  and  true  soldier  in  war,  so  had  he  l)een  a 
good  citizen  and  neighbor  in  time  of  peace.  He  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Terryville  Congregational  Church  in  1858,  and  was 
one  of  its  most  generous  and  steadfast  supporters.  For  a  number 
of  years  he  was  superintendent  of  the  Congregational  Sunday 
School,  and  during  the  last  year  of  his  life,  chairman  of  the 
Ecclesiastical  Society.  He  was  a  member  of  Gilbert  \V. 
Thompson  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  of  Bristol,  and  until  his  disabled  leg 
compelled  the  cessation  of  active  service,  he  took  pait  in  every 
public  military  function  of  the  post.  He  was  an  enthusiastic 
member  of  the  Army  and  Navy  Club  and  had  made  plans  to  at- 
tend the  club's  annual  dinner  wdien  his  fatal  illness  intervened. 
He  was  connected  with  Union  Lodge  of  Masons  of  Thomaston, 
Sedgwick  Council  of  American  Mechanics  and  Terry  Lodge  of 
United  Workmen  of  this  place.  For  several  years  Major  Ells 
was  superintendent  of  the  Eagle  Lock  Company.  In  all  matters 
relating  to  church,  school  or  town,  he  felt  a  deep  interest,  and 
his  death  was  a  severe  blow  to  all  in  the  village  and  a  loss  which 
was  felt  by  every  surviving  member  of  the  Second  Connecticut 
Heavy  Artillery,  be  he  officer  or  private. 

Major  Ells'  wife  was  formerly  Miss  Julia  Goodwin  of 
Terryville,  whom  he  married  shortly  after  the  war,  and  to  whom 
were  born  three  daughters.  Flattie,  Gertrude  and  Julia. 
A  brother  and  two  sisters  also  survive  him. 


IIEXKV    E.     HINMAN. 

Henry  E.  Hinman,  the  first  selectman  of  Plvmouth,  w  a  s 
born  in  Harwinton,  August  27,  1836  His  place  of  residence 
has  been  divided  between  here  and  Harwinton  during  his  lile. 
He  is  a  son  of  Isaac  and  Lorinda  Hinman,  and  his  mother,  who 
is  now  eighty-five  years  of  age,  resides  with  him  at  his  residence 
in  East  Plymouth.  Fie  was  elected  first  selectman  last  Fall,  and 
has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of  selectmen  three  terms.  He 
married  Carolina  C.  Roberts  of  Burlington,  by  whom  he  has 
three  children,  Minnie,  Irene  and  Olive  L.  Hinman. 

B.    H.    SUTLIFFE. 

Bennett  H.  Sutlifie  was  born  in  Plymouth,  September  16, 
1835,  and  is  a  direct  descendant  of  John  Sutlifie,  who  came 
from  England  and  who  lived  in  Branford  in  1695,  and  who 
came  to  VVaterbury  soon  after  and  settled  in  Plymouth  in  1730. 
By  the  possession  of  old  deeds  it  is  shown  that  all  the  land  in  the 
vicinity  of  Reynold's  and  Terrv's  Bridge  at  one  time  belonged  to 
the  Sutliftes,  and  known  as  Sutlifie  Hollow.  A  cane  is  now^  in 
the  possession  of  Mr.  Sutlifie  which  belongs  to  his  son  John, 
and  which  bears  the  inscription,  "  Captain  John  Sutlifie,  1765." 
This  cane  has  been  handed  down  for  seven  generations  and  now 
belongs  to  the  seventh  John  Sutlifie.     Bennett  Sutlifie  spent  his 


364 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Bennett  H.  Sutliffe 


Bennett  H.  Sutliffe's  Residence 


BIOGRAI'HICAI.    SKETCHES.  365 

early  life  on  the  farm,  afterwards  was  engaged  in  the  clock  shop  ; 
he  then  moved  to  New  Haven,  where  he  remained  ahont  six 
years.  Retnrning  to  Plymouth,  he  again  entered  the  clock  shop 
and  built  a  house  on  Marine  street,  which  he  still  owns.  His 
present  residence  is  on  a  farm  of  165  acres,  which  he  bought  in 
1S77,  and  on  which  he  has  lived  since  that  time.  The  artairs  of 
his  farm  are  conducted  on  business  principles;  therefore  he  is 
one  wdio  makes  farming  pay.  His  herd  of  registered  Jerse}  s  is 
one  of  the  best.  He  has  all  the  latest  machinery  in  his  barn, 
including  a  hay-fork,  power  for  cutting  feed  and  devices  for 
watering  cattle.  On  the  farm,  he  has  all  the  latest  machines  for 
use  in  planting  and  cultivating  his  crops,  also  machines  for  use 
in  haying,  from  the  time  the  hay  is  cut  till  it  is  in  the  barn. 
For  grinding  grain  and  sawing,  he  has  built  a  mill.  In  politics, 
he  is  a  staunch  Republican,  having  been  with  the  party  since  its 
commencement. 

Mr.  Sutlifte  has  great  regard  for  his  ancestors,  and  when 
the  old  cemetery  was  removed  in  Thomaston,  he  superintended 
the  removal  of  all  their  bodies,  eighteen  in  number,  and  placed 
them  in  a  lot  in  the  new  cemetery  purchased  for  that  purpose. 
He  has,  in  his  possession,  land  records  and  lay-outs  of  land 
belonging  to  the  Sutlifte  family,  beginning  in  1695,  under 
Sovereign  Lord  William,  King  of  England,  Scotland,  France 
and  Ireland,  and  down  through  the  kings  till  the  present  time. 

Mr.  Sutlifte  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church,  and 
is  proud  of  its  history  and  of  the  fact  that  his  ancestor,  John 
Sutlifte,  was  one  of  its  founders  seven  generations  ago. 

Mr.  Sutlifte  is  serving  his  third  term  as  selectman.  He  was 
married  December  31,  1S70,  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry 
Kirk,  of  Waterbury.  His  children  are:  Edith  E.,  born  October 
10,  187^;  Daisy  B.,  born  April  4,  1S79,  and  John  Thomas, 
born  December  26,  18S3. 

JOEL    BLAKESLEE. 

Joel  Blakeslee  was  bDrn  in  that  part  of  Plymouth  now  called 
Thomaston,  September  2,  181 3.  He  died  in  Bridgeport,  Conn., 
January  18,  1895.  The  Blakeslee  family  in  Plymouth  descend- 
ed from  Samuel  Blakeslee,  who  was  a  planter  in  Guilford, 
Conn.,  in  1650,  but  who  afterwards  removed  to  New  Haven, 
where  he  died  in  1673.  His  grandson,  Aloses  Blakeslee,  moved 
from  New  Haven  to  Waterbury  (Northbury,  afterwards  called 
Plymouth),  about  i739i  '^"tl  settled  on  land  previouslv  "laid 
out"  to  him  on  what  is  now  known  as  Town  Hill.  His  house 
stood  near  the  residence  of  the  late  Oliver  Stoughton.  He  was 
appointed  a  deacon  in  the  Congregational  Church  at  Plvmouth 
at  its  organization  in  1740,  and  was  an  active  and  influential 
member  of  the  church  and  the  community. 

From  him,  Joel,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  descended 
through  John,  born  in  1725  ;  Joel,  born  1752,  and  Ransom,  born 
1781.  Of  the  generation  on  the  stage  at  the  time  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary war,  two  at  least  are  known  to  have  served  in  the  Con- 


366 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Joel  Blakeslee. 


Gen.  Erastus  Blakeslee 


BIOGKAPIIlCAr,    SKETCHES.  367 

tinental  army,  one  in  Captain  Joseph  Manslleld's  (of  Litchfield) 
company  of  infantry,  and  one  in  the   "  Light  Iloise"  (cavalry). 

Ransom  Blakeslee,  known  in  his  later  life  as  "  Squire 
Blakeslee,"  father  of  Joel,  established  himself  in  business  about 
1S03,  at  the  water  privilege,  on  what  was  then  known  as  the 
Goss  place,  about  halfway  between  Thomaston  and  Northfield. 
Here  he  did  country  blacksmithing,  and  also  by  aid  of  trip-ham- 
mers, run  by  water  power,  carried  on  quite  a  business  in  the 
manufacture  of  heavy  "  Guinea  hoes,"  for  plantation  use  in  the 
South.  These  hoes,  without  handles,  were  packed  in  molasses 
hogsheads  and  hauled  to  Llartford  or  New  Haven  for  shipment, 
the  iron  for  making  them  being  brought  back  on  the  return  trip. 
This  is  very  much  in  contrast  with  our  modern  ways  of  doing 
business.  He,  however,  was  enterprising  and  made  monev,  so 
that  after  his  lather's  death  in  1S14,  be  bought  the  family  estate 
on  Plymouth  Hill,  on  which  he  lived  until  his  death  in  1S68. 
He  built  the  brick  shop,  still  standing,  opposite  the  house  in 
which  he  lived,  and  for  a  time  continued  his  general  blacksmith- 
ing  there,  but  gave  up  the  manufacture  of  hoes.  About  iS'^4 
he  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Cooley,  of  Reading,  Conn., 
for  the  manufacture  of  carriages  in  the  brick  shop.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  the  carriage  manufacturing  industry  in  Ply- 
mouth. Two  or  three  years  later  he  assisted  in  the  formation  of 
the  carriage  manufacturing  firm  of  Coole}',  Bradley  &  Co.,  with- 
drawing from  the  business  himself,  but  putting  capital  into  the 
new  firm  for  his  son  Joel,  then  a  young  man.  The  business  in 
later  years  grew  to  large  proportions,  but  since  has  steadily  de- 
clined, owing  to  severe  competition  bv  western  manufactureis. 

From  about  that  time  his  only  business  was  the  care  of  his 
farm.  He  was  at  one  time  a  member  of  the  legislature,  and  al- 
ways a  much  respected  citizen.  He  will  be  remembered  by  the 
older  residents  of  Plymouth  at  the  present  tiine  for  his  native 
wisdom,  his  dignified  and  genial  presence,  and  his  upright  and 
honorable  character. 

His  son,  Joel,  was  a  delicate  child,  and  was  never  in  robust 
health,  although  he  lived  until  his  eighty-third  year.  He  partly 
fitted  for  Yale  College,  but  on  account  of  his  health  gave  up  his 
studies.  On  the  formation  of  the  carriage  manufacturing  firm  of 
Cooley,  Bradley  &  Co.,  he  became  a  member  of  it,  as  above 
stated,  and  continued  with  it  until  its  close.  Afterwards  he  car- 
ried on  the  carriage  business  for  himself,  in  connection  with  his 
son  Arthur.  Tn  1871  he  sold  the  old  homestead  and  moved  to 
Bridgeport,  where  he  remained  until  his  death.  He  was  very 
feeble  for  the  last  two  or  three  years  of  his  life,  but  finally  passed 
away  quite  suddenly. 

GENERAL    ERASTUS    BLAKESLEE. 

Erastus  Blakeslee,  son  of  Joel  and  Sarah  Maria  (Alansfield) 
Blakeslee,  was  born  in  Plymouth,  Conn.,  .September  2,  183S. 
Pie  was  fitted  for  college  at  Williston  Seminary,  Easthampton, 
Mass.,  and  entered  the  freshman  class  at  Yale  in  the  fall  of  1S59. 


368 


IlIS'l'OKV    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Oliver  Smith. 


r\roii  Tuttle, 


BlOGKAl'llICAL    SKETCHES.  369 

During  liis  spring  vacation  in  1861  occurred  the  firing  on  Fort 
Sumter.  At  a  public  meeting  held  shortly  atterwartls  in  Ply- 
mouth, he  was  one  of  the  first  to  sign  the  enlistment  roll  in 
answer  to  President  Lincoln's  call  for  volunteers.  Owing  to  the 
large  over-enlistment  at  that  time  he  was  not  mustered  into 
service,  but  returned  to  college.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he 
left  college  for  good  and  enlisted  in  Company  A,  First  Battalion 
Connecticut  Cavalry  Volunteers.  His  military  record  was  as 
follows  : 

Enlisted  in  Co.  A,  ist  Bat.  Conn.  Cav.  Vols.,  .  Oct.  9,  1S61 
Commissioned  2d  Lieut,  in  same  company,  .     Oct.  18,  iSbi 

Promoted  to  be  ist  Lieut,  and  Adjutant,      .  .     Nov.  26,  1861 

Promoted  to  be  Capt.Co.  A,       .  .  .  .     Feb.  28,  1863 

Promoted  to  be  Major,  .....  July  14,  1863 
Promoted  to  be  Lieut. -Colonel,  .  .  .     Mav  21,  1864 

Promoted  to  be  Colonel,  .....  May  27,  1S64 
JMust.  out  by  reason  of  expiration  of  term  of  service,  Oct.  26,  1864 
Commissioned  Brevet  Brig.  Gen.  of  Vols,   "for 

gallant  conduct  at  Ashland,  Va.,  June  I,  1864,"  March  13,  186^ 

During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1864  he  was  in  command 
of  his  regiment,  as  a  part  of  Sheridan's  cavalry,  in  the  famous 
Wilderness  campaign,  during  which  the  regiment  saw  much 
hard  service.  He  was  wounded  in  battle  at  Ashland,  Va.,  June 
I,  1864.  As  soon  as  he  had  recovered  from  his  wound  he 
rejoined  his  regiment,  which  he  commanded  during  a  portion  of 
Sheridan's  Shenandoah  Valley  campaign  in  the  autumn  of  the 
same  year.  After  leaving  the  army  General  Blakeslee  was  en- 
gaged in  business  for  a  time  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  and  afterwards 
in  Boston,  Mass.  In  1S76  he  again  took  up  the  course  of  study 
which  had  been  interrupted  by  the  war,  and  entered  Andover 
Theological  Seminary  in  preparation  for  the  gospel  ministrv. 
After  graduating  there  in  1879,  he  held  pastorates  successivelv, 
in  the  Second  Congregational  Church,  Greenfield,  Mass.,  the 
Second  Congregational  Church,  Fair  Haven  (New  Haven), 
Conn.,  and  in  the  First  Congregational  Church,  Spencer,  Mass. 

While  in  Spencer  he  became  greatly  interested  in  an  efibrt 
to  improve  the  methods  and  results  of  Bible  study  in  Sundav 
Schools  and  among  young  people,  and  devised  a  system  of  study, 
which  met  with  such  favorable  reception,  that  in  the  summer  of 
1892  he  resigned  his  pastorate,  moved  to  Boston,  and  has  since 
given  his  whole  time  to  this  important  work.  His  lessons  are 
now  used  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in  nearly  all  the  evangelical 
denominations  in  America,  and  have  been  translated  into  eight 
or  ten  difierent  foreign  missionary  languages. 

OLIVER     SMITH. 

Oliver  Smith,  now  deceased,  the  son  of  Theophilus  M.  and 
Salome  vSmith,  was  born  in  iSIilford,  Conn.,  September  i^,  1800, 
and  settled  in  Plymouth  with  his  parents  in  the  spring  of  1S08. 
His  father  was  a  native  of  Milford  and  was  a  shoemaker  and 
farmer  by   occupation.      He   was   twice   married.     By   his    first 


370 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Residence  of  Byron  Tuttle. 


Byron  Tuttle's  Birthrlace. 


lUOGKAl'IlICAI.    SKKTCHKS. 


37 


wife  he  had  two  children,  and  h^'  his  second  marriage  seven,  one 
of  whom,  vSalome,  married  Chauncey  Jerome,  a  celebrated  clock 
maker  of  Plymouth.  lie  continued  to  reside  in  Plymouth  until 
his  death  in  1S49.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  war, 
and  a  captain  oi'the  State  militia  for  many  years.  Oliver  Smith 
was  reared  on  a  farm,  but  was  engaged  at  tanning,  and  worked 
for  a  while  at  joinering.  He  married  Harriet,  eldest  daughter 
of  Allen  Bunnell,  of  Plymouth,  October  16,  1822.  Her  father 
was  a  son  of  Titus  Bunnell,  who  settled  in  Plymouth  at  an  early 
day.  Mr.  Smith  had  the  following  children  :  Lyman,  born 
February  5,  1S24,  died  in  California,  August  10,  1S62  ;  Edwin, 
who  died  young;  Candace,  born  June  14,  1830  (married  Byron 
Tuttle,  and  has  two  children,  Hattie  A.  and  NVilliam  B.)  ;  James 
E.,  born  March  11,  1833,  died  September  24,  1872.  Mr.  Smith 
was  a  staunch  Republican,  and  was  selectman  twelve  years,  and 
held  various  other  town  offices. 

JOSEPH    SHELTON. 

Joseph  Shelton  was  born  October  20,  17S3,  in  Plymouth, 
Conn.,  and  died  June  20,  1864.  Martha,  his  wife,  was  born 
November  19,  17S6,  and  died  February  24,  1842.  Their  chil- 
dren were  :  George  Edward  Shelton,  born  December  18,  1809, 
in  Portland,  IVIe.,  who  has  been  a  prominent  citizen  of  Plymouth 
for  many  years;  Augusta  Maria,  born  August  30,  181 1,  in  Port- 
land, Me.;  Elizabeth  Amelia,  born  Julv  19,  1813;  Augustus 
Canby,  born  February  7,  1816,  and  died  August  27,  1880; 
Martha  Jane,  born  July  22,  1818,  and  died  September  30,  1819  ; 
David,  born  November  3,  1S20;  Nancy  Martha,  born  February 
25,  1823,  and  died  September  30,  1874;  Emily,  born  December 
10,  1824;  Isaac  Wells,  born  January  14,  182S;  William  Joseph, 
born  November  13,  1829,  died  September  16,  1830;  Alarv  Ann, 
born  April  4,  1833,  died  October  32,  1832.  George  E.  Shelton 
was  first  married  October  3,  1848.  to  Miss  Betsy  Clark,  who 
died  March  17,  1850,  and  second  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Adah  Jones, 
March  20,  1867,  who  is  also  dead. 

BYRON  TUTTLE. 

Byron  Tuttle  is  of  Welsh  descent  and  the  eighth  generation 
from  William  Tuttle,  who  came  from  Devonshire,  England,  in 
the  ship  Planter,  and  landed  in  Boston  in  163^  He  removed  to 
New  Haven  in  1639  and  lived  on  and  owned  the  land  where  the 
Yale  College  buildings  now  stand.  Mr.  Tuttle  was  born  in 
Plymouth,  Conn.,  August  23,  1825,  the  son  of  a  farmer,  and  his 
early  years  were  spent  at  home  farming.  He  had  the  advantages 
of  a  common  district  school  of  those  days.  On  the  26th  of 
August,  1847,  ^^^  entered  the  carriage  establishment  of  A.  C. 
Shelton  of  Plymouth,  afterward  entering  into  partnership  with 
him  under  the  firm  name  of  Shelton  &  Tuttle.  In  1854  ■'^^''• 
Tuttle  went  to  Chicago  and  established  a  carriage  repository  for 
the  sale  of  their  carriages  in  that  city.     Later  repositories  were 


37- 


HISTOUY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Store-  W.  H.  Scott  &  Co. 


Storehouse     W.  H.  Scott  &  Co. 


UIOGKAl'JUCAI.    SKliTCllHS.  373 

opened  at  New  Orleans,  La.,  and  Burlington,  la.,  where  lie 
spent  nuicli  of  his  time  for  a  number  of  years.  The  venture 
proved  successful,  and  the  firm  made  money.  In  1S65  they 
built  a  repository  on  Madison  street,  Chicago,  which  was  burned 
in  the  great  fire  of  1872,  without  much  loss  to  the  company, 
when  the  property  was  sold  and  Mr.  Tuttle  retired  from  the 
business. 

Mr.  Tuttle  was  married  to  Candace  D.,  daughter  of  Oliver 
Smith,  of  Plymouth,  April  10,  1S53.  They  have  two  cnildren, 
Ilattie  A.  and  William  B.  Asitle  from  private  business  Mr. 
Tuttle  has  occupied  a  prominent  place  in  the  aflairs  of  the  town, 
having'been  elected  justice  of  the  peace  in  1S64,  which  office  he 
still  holds,  and  selectman  in  1S78,  holding  the  latter  ofiice 
thirteen  years.  He  has  been  for  a  number  ol"  years  the  agent  of 
the  town,  having  filled  this  position  with  ability  before  the 
legislature  and  the  courts  in  cases  where  local  interests  were 
involved.  He  has  also  been  a  judge  of  probate  for  ten  years  in 
the  (Hstrict  where  he  resides.  In  poHtics  he  is  a  Republican. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Societv  and  has  served 
with  credit  as  the  society's  committee.  Mr.  Tuttle  is  an 
energetic,  thorough  business  man. 


W.     II.    SCOTT    c^    CO. 

The  store  at  Terryville  station,  owned  and  operated  by  W. 
H.  Scott  &  Co  ,  has  l^een  in  existence  about  ibrty-one  years, 
having  been  established  in  1S54,  '^Y  ^'^^  ^'^^^  '^-  Tavlor  Baldwin, 
who  was  station  agent  when  the  railroad  penetrated  this  region. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Gains  A.  Norton,  who  sold  out  his  inter- 
est to  Walter  H.  Scott,  with  whom  was  associated  Edwin  R. 
Dimmock,  the  firm  name  being  Scott  &  Dimmock.  After  five 
months  Mr.  Dimmock  retired  on  account  of  ill  health,  selling 
his  interest  to  J.  P.  Crawford,  who  held  his  interest  in  the  con- 
cern for  three  years.  His  health  failing  him  he  retired  and  W. 
H.  Scott  carried  on  the  business  single  handed  for  a  vear,  when 
he  took  into  the  store  W.  R.  Guernsey,  and  for  a  year  the  firm 
was  Scott  &  Guernsey.  At  the  end  of  a  year  Zelotes  F.  Gran- 
niss  and  W.  C.  Andrews  were  admitted,  and  the  firm  was  then 
first  known  as  W.  PI.  Scott  &  Co.  Z.  F.  Granniss  became  the 
sole  junior  partner  in  1867.  The  entire  real  estate,  with  build- 
ings thereon,  was  then  owned  by  Andrew  Terry,  who  sold  it  to 
W.  H.  Scott  &  Co.  in  1868.  Since  then  they  have  steadily 
added  to  the  store  property,  which  at  present  consists  of  eight 
buildings. 

The  most  important  building  in  connection  with  the  store 
is  a  three-story  storehouse,  covering  an  area  of  60  x  40  feet,  with 
a  spur  track  from  the  New  York  &  New  England  railroad,  run- 
ning into  the  building,  from  which  coal  Is  unloaded  directly  into 
coal  bins  underneath,  having  a  capacity  of  from  600  to  700  tons. 
This  building  will  easily  hold  twenty  cars  of  hay,  grain,  flour, 
feed  and  other  supplies,  and  it  is  an  interesting  fact,  that  during 
the  first  year  of  its  occupancv,  149  cars,  aggregating   2,23^   tons, 


374 


HISTORY    OF    PI.YMOUTir. 


Saw  Mill     VV.  H.  <^co(t  &  Co. 


Coal  and  WooJ  YarJs,  Wateibuiy     W.  H.  Scott  &  Co. 


niOGUAPIIICAI,    SKETCHES.  375 

were  unloaded  therein.  Besides  the  articles  mentioned  above, 
the  firm  are  dealers  in  dry  goods,  groceries,  boots  and  shoes, 
hardware,  wood,  fertilizers,  patent  medicines,  and,  in  fact,  are 
literalh',  as  formerly  printed  on  their  business  cards,  "dealers  in 
everything." 

In  connection  with  the  business,  they  operate  a  saw  mill, 
the  site  of  which  was  bought  at  auction  from  the  old  Eagle  Bit 
and  Buckle  Company,  in  1S7S.  Their  first  mill  was  erected  in 
iSSo,  and  for  twelve  years  they  carried  on  a  very  good  lumber 
and  wood  business  from  the  same.  In  January,  1S92,  the  mill 
was  burned,  but  was  rebuilt  in  the  following  summer,  larger  and 
stronger,  and  the  concern  now  turn  out  a  large  product  in  sawed 
lumber  and  firewood,  besides  doing  quite  an  extensive  business 
of  planing,  sawing  and  turning,  and  running  a  grist  mill.  They 
also  own  about  450  acres  of  wood  and  farm  land,  most  of  the 
latter  being  "cleared"  by  Z.  F.  Granniss.  In  1S84  the  firm 
bought  of  Mrs.  Alfred  Schermerhorn,  the  old  home  of  Andrew 
Terry,  about  500  feet  south  ot  the  store,  where  W.  H.  Scott  and 
family  reside.  Until  that  time  they  lived  in  the  piesent  home  of 
Z.  F.  Granniss,  adjoining  the  store. 

In  18S5,  finding  that  they  were  producing  more  firewood 
and  charcoal  than  thev  could  readily  dispose  of  in  Terryville,  the 
firm  bought  out  a  wood  yard  in  Waterbury,  where  they  are  doing 
a  large  business,  employing  seven  or  eight  men  and  as  many 
horses.  \V.  H.  Scott  &  Co.  give  employment,  in  all  their  estab- 
lishments, to  an  average  of  thirty  men  the  year  around. 

In  1879,  they  found  their  bills  for  repairs,  horse  shoeing, 
etc.,  were  becoming  quite  large,  so  they  established  a  black- 
smith shop  for  their  own  work,  and  have,  besides,  done  a  large 
general  blacksmithing  business.  They  build  their  own  wagons, 
besides  doing  custom  work  and  horse  shoeing  for  others. 

WALTER    H.    SCOTT. 

Walter  H.  Scott,  Terryville's  oldest  and  most  widely  known 
merchant,  is  a  native  of  the  town  of  Plymouth,  and  son  of  Riley 
Scott,  the  veteran  builder.  He  was  born  on  Town  Hill,  July 
29,  1851,  obtained  his  education  at  the  "  little  red  school  house" 
near  by,  and  in  the  village  school,  and  entered  the  employ  of 
Gains  Norton,  November  13,  i860,  becoming  clerk  in  the  store 
in  which  he  has  been  so  closely  identified  for  nearly  thirty-five 
years.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Mr.  Scott  has  devoted 
most  of  his  time  to  a  large  business,  he  has  also  served  his  native 
town  in  public  affairs.  He  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  select- 
men from  1875  to  1S81,  inclusive.  For  quite  a  number  of  years 
he  has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of  relief,  and  re])resented  his 
native  town  in  the  State  legislature  in  1S76.  Mr.  Scott  was  ap- 
pointed postmaster  of  Pequabuck  in  President  Johnson's  admin- 
istration in  1866,  the  post  office  being  located  in  W.  H.  Scott  & 
Co.'s  store,  and  continued  as  such  until  1876,  when  his  brother- 
in-law  and  partner  in  business,  Z.  F.  Granniss,  was  appointed 
by  Pi-esident  Grant,  until  1893,  when  Mr.  Scott  was  reappointed 


;76 


HISTORY    OF    PI.YMOUTM- 


Walter  H.  Scott. 


W.  H.  Scott's  Residence 


BIOGKAPlllCAL    SKlilCllKS.  37/ 

bv  President  Harrison.  In  addition  to  his  store  duties  he  was 
for  live  years  station  agent  for  the  old  Hartford,  Providence  & 
Fishkill  railroad,  and  for  twenty-tive  years  agent  for  Adams  Ex- 
press Company.  JMr.  Scott  is  an  indefatigable  worker  and  a 
tirm  believer  in  the  old  proverb,  "The  early  bird  catches  the 
worm."  He  starts  from  his  store  every  morning  generally  as 
early  as  6  o'clock  in  quest  of  orders,  and  on  Mondays  usually  at 
5  o'clock.  This  custom  he  has  followed,  in  all  sorts  of  weather, 
for  about  thirt}'-  years.  He  is  probably  one  of  the  most  active,  as 
well  as  respected  business  men  in  Litchfield  county. 

Mr.  Scott  is  a  devout  member  of  the  Tcrryville  Congrega- 
tional Church,  and  for  eighteen  consecutive  years  was  assistant 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School.  On  January  21,  1864,  he 
married  Miss  Sarah  R.  Granniss,  sister  of  Z.  F.  Granniss. 
They  celebrated  their  silver  wedding  in  1S89,  when  a  large  com- 
pany assembled  at  their  home  in  their  honor.  They  have  had 
three  children,  \iz :  George  A.  Scott,  book-keeper  for  W. 
H.  Scott  &  Co.,  and  general  manager  of  the  store  in  the  absence 
of  his  father,  and  also  superintendent  of  the  Congregational  Sun- 
day School,  who  was  born  January  23,  1865  ;  Frederick  A. 
Scott,  attorney-at-law,  with  an  office  in  Hartford,  and  the  assist- 
ant clerk  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the  Legislature  of 
1895,  born  November  8,  1S66  ;  Anna,  born  in  September,  1868, 
died  in  February,  1871. 

Z.    FULLER    GRANNISS. 

Z.  Fuller  Granniss,  now  one  of  the  selectmen  ot  Plymouth, 
was  born  in  Hardscrabble,  a  section  of  the  town  of  Warren,  in 
Litchfield  county,  in  1S40,  and  was  the  son  of  Charles  D.  Gran- 
niss and  his  first  wife.  In  early  life  he  worked  at  farming  and 
trading,  and  in  1862  was  in  the  butchering  business,  when  he 
enlisted  in  the  Nineteenth  Connecticut  Volunteers,  afterwards 
the  Second  Connecticut  Heavy  Artillery,  and  went  to  the  front 
with  the  boys  in  blue.  He  was  in  the  army  nearly  three  years, 
and  never  missed  a  march  or  battle  that  his  regiment  was  en- 
gaged in.  His  company  participated  in  the  terrible  conflicts  at 
Cold  Harbor,  Winchester,  Cedar  Creek,  Fisher's  Hill,  Thatch- 
er's Run,  Petersburg,  and  at  the  close  was  with  Grant  when 
Lee  surrendered.  Mr.  Granniss  while  in  service  was  one  of  the 
cleanest,  most  efficient,  ready  for  duty,  hardy  soldiers  in  the  regi- 
ment, and  by  his  imperturbable  good  nature  under  all  sorts  of 
privations  and  discouragements,  by  his  wit  and  oddities,  con- 
tributed not  a  little  to  keep  up  the  spirits  of  the  company. 
When  the  Sixth  army  corps  lay  in  the  fortifications  in  front  of 
Petersburg,  at  one  of  the  weekly  inspections  he  was  selected  for 
having  the  best  packed  knapsack,  best  polished  shoes,  cleanest 
clothes  and  person,  brightest  buttons  and  accoutrements,  and 
polished  arms,  of  any  man  in  the  regiment,  and  was  given  a 
furlough  of  thirty  days.  He  was  mustered  out  in  1S65,  and 
entered  the  employ  of  Scott  &  Crawford,  at  Pequabuck,  and  has 
continued  in  the  business  ever  since,  being  now  a  member  of  the 


378 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Z    F.  Gtanniss 


•-53«:  -n  ;.«^^#^««=««i»"'*''««W«l'*»*^="''' 


'i'!!;i''  - 


ResiJi'iue  of  Z.  1-.  dianiii 


HIOCiKArilKAI,    SKKIC-HKS.  379 

firm  vvliich  is  styled  W.  H.  Scott  <S:  Co.  He  was  appointed 
postmaster  in  1S76,  and  lield  the  position  luitil  he  resigned  to 
look  after  the  mill  business  of  his  company.  He  was  at  first  a 
Democrat,  then  followed  "Joe"  Hawley  into  the  Republican 
party,  and  stood  by  that  party  staunchly  until  he  became  per- 
suaded it  could  not  possibly  antagonize  the  saloon.  Since  he 
has  acted  witii  the  Prohibitionists,  and  is  determined  to  do  all  in 
his  power  to  "pulverize  the  rum  power." 

Mr.  Granniss  is  a  workei-,  toiling  early  and  late,  and  is  one 
of  the  best  business  men  in  town.  He  is  married,  and  has  one 
daughter,  Laura.      Three  children  have  died. 

BEACH    AND    BI.ACKMER. 

Messrs  Beach  &  Blackmer,  the  enterprising  merchants  of 
Plymouth,  have  become  widely  known  during  their  business 
career  in  the  past  few  years,  by  their  energy  to  suit  the  people, 
promptness  and  thoroughly  honest  methods  they  have  used  in 
catering  to  the  wants  of  their  customers.  Their  business  is  now 
carried  on  in  the  store  and  buildings  owned  by  Mrs.  Hattie  M. 
Beach,  near  Plymouth  Green.  O.  D.  Beach  came  here  from 
Litchfield  a  number  of  years  ago,  and  has  been  engaged  in  the 
mercantile  business  since.  L.  E.  Blackmer  came  to  Thomaston 
in  iSSo  from  Woodbury,  and  had  become  well  known  here 
before  entering  in  business  with  Mr.  Beach,  The  business 
became  known  under  the  firm  name  of  Beach  &  Blackmer,  Jan- 
uary I,  1S90,  and  before  that  was  conducted  by  Beach  Brothers. 

Their  success  in  business  is  mainly  due  to  the  large  and 
complete  stock  of  goods  that  they  continually  keep  on  hand, 
such  as  dry  goods,  groceries,  hats  and  cajjs,  boots  and  shoes, 
hardware,  crockery,  hav  and  feed. 

MATHAN    BEACH. 

Nathan  Beach  was  born  in  the  town  of  Plymouth,  Marcli  16, 
1806,  his  parents  coming  here  about  1795.  from  Milford,  Conn., 
For  seventeen  vears  he  was  engaged  bv  Silas  Hoadley,  Eli 
Terry,  and  others,  in  painting  clock  dials,  but  finally,  on  account 
of  his  health,  was  obliged  to  abandon  the  work,  and  in  1S3S, 
moved  into  the  place  on  Town  Hill,  where  his  widow  and  son, 
Everett  A.  Beach,  now  reside.  Mr.  Beach  was  married  Decem- 
ber 22,  1S30,  to  ISIiss  Lucv  Case  of  Southington,  He  died  Jan- 
uary 23,    1SS6. 

D.    W.    C.    SKH.TON. 

DeWitt  Clinton  Skilton  was  born  in  that  portion  of  the 
present  town  of  Thomaston,  which  was  then  known  as  Plymouth 
Hollow,  on  the  nth  of  January,  1S39.  ^^^  parents  were  John 
Chester  Skilton,  born  in  Watertown,  and  Anna  Heaton,  born  in 
Northfield  Hioth  from  old  New  England  families),  the  former 
being   in   the   employ   of  Seth    Thomas,    the   elder,    for    twenty 


3So 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


tMMMM  mi: 


Beach  &  Blackmer's  Store. 


Nathan  Beach. 


H10(;KArillCAL    SKKICIIES.  381 

years.  His  first  American  ancestor  was  Dr.  Henry  Skilton,  who 
was  born  in  the  parish  of  St.  ]Michael,  Coventry,  Enj^hind,  Nov- 
veniber  19,  171S,  and  sailed  for  America  in  a  "gun  ship," 
April  I.  1735.  He  left  the  ship  the  same  year  on  its  arrival  in 
Boston,  boarded  a  while  in  Roxbury,  and  is  next  licard  of  in 
Preston,  Conn.,  where  he  was  married  in  1741?  to  the  daughter 
of  Joseph  A\ery  of  Norwich.  He  removed  to  Southington  in 
1750,  ten  years  later  to  Woodbury,  and  finally  in  his  old  age  to 
Watertown,  where  he  died  in  1802,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  removed  from  Plymouth  Hollow 
to  Hartford  in  1S55,  and  began  his  business  career  in  the  dry 
goods  trade.  In  October,  1861,  he  first  entered  the  insurance 
business  as  a  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  Hartford  Fire  Insurance 
Company.  In  1S63  he  joined  Company  B,  of  the  Twentv- 
second  Regiment,  Connecticut  Volunteers,  and  was  elected  sec- 
ond lieutenant,  serving  with  distinction  in  the  army  until  he  was 
mustered  out,  having  been  promoted,  in  the  meantime,  to  first 
lieutenant.  On  his  return  from  the  army  he  resumed  his  old 
position  with  the  insurance  company.  In  November,  1867,  he 
was  elected  secretary  of  the  Phoenix  Insurance  Company,  and  re- 
mained in  that  capacity  until  August  i,  188S,  when  he  was 
elected  vice-president  and  acting  president;  and  February  3, 
1891,  was  elected  president  of  the  company.  He  ranks  unques- 
tionably among  the  expert  underwriters  of  the  country,  and  the 
Phoenix  owes  much  of  its  success  to  his  able  management. 

Mr,  Skilton  was  married  August  8,  186^,  to  jNIiss  Jennette 
Andrews,  daughter  of  Lyman  Andrews,  of  Hartford.  They  have 
had  two  children,  a  son  and  daughter,  neither  of  whom  is  now 
living.  In  addition  to  his  official  connection  with  the  Phccnix 
Insurance  Company,  Mr.  Skilton  is  a  director  in  the  Hartford 
National  Bank,  a  corporator  and  trustee  of  the  State  vSavings 
Bank,  was  president  ol  the  National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters 
for  three  years,  a  member  of  the  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal 
Legion  of  the  United  States,  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  and  of  the  Hartford  Club.  He  held  the  office  of 
committeeman  of  .the  West  Middle  school  district  in  Hartford 
for  several  years.  He  is  a  Republican  in  politics,  and  his  relig- 
ious connections  are  with  the  Asylum  Avenue  Congregational 
Church,  of  his  city. 

PORTER    SANFORD. 

Porter  Sanford  was  born  in  Goshen,  Conn.,  September  7, 
1810.  He  was  the  son  of  Ephraim  Sanford,  who  was  born  in 
Plymouth,  January  3,  1785,  and  grandson  of  Amos  Sanford, 
born  December  29.  1740,  who  was  a  descendant  of  Thomas  and 
Sarah  Sanford.  When  still  a  young  child  his  father  returned 
with  his  family  to  Plymouth,  where  the  remainder  of  his  life  was 
spent.  September  13,  183^,  he  married  Sarah  Ann  Allen,  who 
was  born  in  Harwinton,  March  9,  1815.  She  was  the  daughter 
ol  Roswell  Allen,  who  was  born  in  1794,  and  granddaughter  of 
John  Allen,  born  in  1756,  and  who  died  November  38,  1S31. 
He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionarv  wai". 


38^ 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUI  H. 


D.  W.  C.  Skilton 


Porter  Sanford. 


BIOGKAI'lIICAI.    SKETCHES.  3S3 

He  was  associated  with  Eli  Terry,  Jr.,  in  the  inamitacture 
of  clocks,  and  afterwards  with  James  Terry  in  the  lock  business, 
and  identified  with  the  Eagle  Lock  Company  from  its  organiza- 
tion, and  one  of  its  directors  for  many  years  until  his  retirement 
from  active  business  in  iS66. 


]5.    15.    SATTEIILEE. 

Having  been  requested  to  allow  my  profile  or  likeness  to  be 
placed  in  our  "  Histor}'  of  Plymouth,"  I  hesitated  to  comply  with 
that  request.  I  asked  myself  these  questions:  "What  right 
have  I,  a  humble,  obscure  citizen,  who  never  attended  a  political 
caucus,  nor  held  office,  civil  or  military — what  right  have  I  to 
obtrude  myself  among  those  Plymouth  worthies.''  And,  further- 
more, why  should  I  seek  to  honor  m3self,  and  not  the  members 
of  my  family.'"'  But  finally  I  have  acquiesced,  and  consented  to 
let  my  picture  go  in.  In  the  town  of  Sheldon,  Genesee  (now 
Wyoming)  county,  N.  Y.,  about  one-half  mile  south  of  the  center, 
on  the  19th  of  January,  iSi8,  I  first  became  a  regular  inhabitant 
of  this  mundane  sphere.  There  I  first  beheld  the  glorious  sun- 
light;  and  the  radiant  smiles  of  the  queen  of  night ;  and  the  glis- 
tening stars!  My  father  died  in  December,  1S27.  In  the 
autumn  of  1829  I  accompanied  an  uncle  (Col.  Philo  Welton )  to 
his  home  in  Montville,  Medina  county,  Ohio.  With  him  I  lived 
three  years,  working  on  the  farm  and  attending  school.  I 
remember  that  while  there  one  of  our  neighbors  had  the  reputa- 
tion of  eating  fried  rattlesnakes  !  And  this  reminds  me  that  on 
a  certain  occasion  my  uncle  had  one  of  those  reptiles  hung  by  the 
neck,  skinning  it  (not  alive)  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  its  oil. 
And  this  further  reminds  me  that  one  day  when  clearing  some 
land  my  uncle  discovered  a  massaugee  (a  dark,  poisonous  snake), 
and  a  moment  later,  with  a  fork  or  stick,  whirled  it  into  the 
burning  heap.  There  was  a  fearful  squirming — a  few  moments 
only.  And  this  still  further  reminds  me  that  one  day,  a  little 
way  over  in  the  woods,  a  black  snake  was  seen  some  twentv  to 
thirty  feet  up  on  a  large  "cucumber"  tree,  which  has  a  rough 
bark.  Uncle  Philo  went  to  obtain  his  gun,  with  which  the 
reptile  was  quickly  brought  down  and  dispatched,  and  being 
laid  by  the  side  of  the  long  gun,  was  found  to  be  the  longest  of 
the  two.  I  was  told  that  this  kind  of  snake  sometimes  ascended 
trees  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  young  squirrels  and  such  like. 
And  such  vast  quantities  of  pigeons  at  certain  seasons  of  the 
year  !  Many  flocks  flying  swiftly  and  low.  Occasionally  a  flock 
containing  tens  of  thousands,  much  bigger,  and  extending  far 
away  on  either  side  and  forward  and  backward  a  much  longer 
distance.  And  wild  turkeys,  too,  occasionally  flew  over,  some- 
times alighting  on  the  tops  of  the  tall  trees,  from  which,  "  now 
and  then,"  they  were  brought  down  bv  the  marksman's  rifle. 
And  they  came — cautiously — into  the  grain  fields,  and  on  urgent 
occasions  quite  near  the  home  buildings.  In  the  autumn  of  1S32 
I  came  to  Ashtabula,  where  my  mother  was  then  living.  The 
following   winter  I  lived    and    attended  school    in  the   adjoining 


384 


UISTOKY    OP^    PI.VMOUIII. 


B.  B.  Satterlee. 


Hiram  Pierce. 


BlOGlJAl'lllCAl.    SKKTCIIHS.  385 

town  of  Sheffield,  wliere  Ilemy  Atvvater  (father  to  Francis,  wlio 
is  publishing  this  history,  and  to  Dorence,  of  Anderson- 
ville  fame),  taught  school  one  winter  along  in  the  thirties.  In 
the  spring  of  1833  ^  drijied  into  a  shoemaker's  shop,  w  here  I 
remained  six  years,  making,  mending,  choring  and  attentling  a 
few  terms  at  school. 

By  sitting  in  a  leaning  position,  accompanied  by  care- 
less exposures  which  resulted  in  colds,  my  health  became  im- 
paired, in  the  matter  of  a  lame  side,  etc.,  ailments  from  which  I 
never  fully  recovered.  vSeemingly  those  were  years  worse  than 
thrown  away.  And  yet  somewhere  along  that  time  there  may 
have  been  a  Divine  Providence  interposing,  preserving  me  from 
something  worse.  In  the  summer  of  1S39  ^  came  to  Western 
New  York,  and  in  September  of  that  vear  to  Connecticut,  where 
I  again  drifted  into  house  painting,  at  which  I  worked  forty  or 
more  vears,  with  a  little  at  farming  thrown  in.  In  March,  1S43, 
I  went  to  Washington  Cit}-,  where  I  shook  hands  with  John 
Tyler,  and  obtained  some  valuable  autographs.  In  the  autumn 
of  that  year  went  west  on  a  visit  as  far  as  Ohio.  Near  the  close 
of  1843  went  to  Long  Island,  the  home  of  my  paternal  ancestors. 
In  1S44  was  married.  In  1S51  went  with  my  wife  to  the  Cr\  s- 
tal  Palace  Exhibition  in  New  York  City.  In  July,  1853,  we 
went  to  Providence,  where  my  younger  brother  graduated  at 
Brown  University,  a  brother  who — four  years  later — was  laid 
away  in  the  soil  of  distant  Arracan.  Including  these  and  a  few 
other  short  absences,  have  resided  in  Plymouth  during  the  last 
fifty-five  and  one-half  years.  Besides  the  unseen  and  unknown 
deliverances  which  come  more  or  less  to  all,  I  have  experienced 
a  few  remarkable  escapes  from  a  premature  death.  In  infancy 
an  older  brother  rocked  me  from  a  chair  into  the  fireplace.  The 
result,  a  broken  nose,  a  scarred  face,  one  eye  nearly  destroyed 
and  the  other  somewhat  injured.  When  living  with  my  uncle 
in  Ohio,  I  went  to  the  pasture  lot  to  catch  a  horse.  Indiscreetly 
coming  up  behind  it,  I  received  the  full  force  of  both  feet,  which 
sent  me  "kiting" — downward.  I  never  think  of  it  without 
wondering  at  my  escape  from  so  tremendous  a  shock.  In 
December,  1847,  I  was  sufibcated  by  charcoal,  in  a  new  house 
built  by  Frederick  Catlin  in  Harwinton,  about  one  mile  south 
from  the  Catlin  Corners,  the  first  house  on  the  road  that  turns 
easterly  toward  Bristol.  One-half  hour  or  more  passed  before  I 
was  resuscitated  to  consciousness.  Along  in  the  fifties  I  under- 
took to  lead  a  horse — with  sleigh  attached — around  in  the  snow. 
Failing  to  step  as  fast  as  the  animal  did,  I  was  pressed  back- 
ward, and  in  falling  pulled  that  over — partly  on  to  me,  one  thill 
resting  across  my  neck.  A  young  woman,  a  neighbor's  daugh- 
ter (whom  I  was  to  take  to  the  church),  might  have  released 
me.  But  she  was  so  frightened  that  she  ran  for  assistance, 
which,  quite  fortunately,  came  from  the  opposite  direction.  Mv 
neighbor,  Richard  Clark,  seeing  or  hearing,  or  both,  came  to 
my  rescue.  Awhile  my  jaws  were  closed  (no  loss  to  the  world 
I  imagine  !)  and  one  or  more  ribs  disorganized.  But  at  length  I 
seemed  to  have  mostly  if  not  wholly  recovered  fiom  the  injurv. 


?86 


IIISIORV    OF    I'LVMOUllI. 


Along  in  the  seventies  1  received  fiom  a  great  horse,  with  big 
feet,  a  blow  partly  on  my  side  and  back.  It  brought  me  down, 
and  laid  me  by  awhile;  yet  I  still  live  !  And  so  the  years  have 
come  and  sped  away.  My  family  to  large  extent  are  gone  "  the 
way  of  all  the  earth."  Time — by  stealth  as  it  were — has  swiftly 
hastened  on,  and  brought  my  footsteps  to  the  verge  of  the  grave, 
which  soon  must  close  over  me.  But  if  my  picture  goes  into 
this  book,  I  shall  pass  along  down  to  Plvmouth's  second  centen- 
nial celebration  in  1995.  B.  B.  S.,  April,  1S95. 

Mr.  Satterlee  ha 
assessments  of  special 

Isaac  Alcox, 
Joel  Blakeslee, 
Noah  M.  Bronson, 
Ransom  Blakeslee, 
Calvin  Butler, 
Bela  Blakeslee, 
Sala  Blakeslee, 
Oliver  Curtis, 
Ephraim  Camp, 
Doolittle  &  Barney, 
Asa  Darrow, 
Asa  Darrow,  Jr., 
Joseph  Gibson, 
Ira  Dodge, 
Ebenezer  W.  French, 
French  &  Matthews, 
Giles  Fenn, 
Cyrus  Gaylord, 
Ozias  Goodwin, 
Harvey  Hough, 
Joel  Langdon, 
Miles  Morse, 
Zadock  Mann, 
Daniel  Mills,  . 
Mitchell  &  Warner, 
Thomas  Potter, 
Noah  Pomeroy, 
William  Pierpont, 
Luman  Preston, 
Samuel  Preston, 
Martin  Pond, 
David  Smith  &  Son, 
Roderick  Stanley, 
Titus  Seymour, 
Abel  Seymour, 
Constant  L.  Tuttle, 
Eli  Terry, 
Amzi  Talmage, 
Stephen  T.  Talmage, 
Philip  Tompkins, 
Ozias  Warner, 
David  Warner, 
Gideon  Woodruff, 
James  Warner,  2d, 
Allyn  Wells, 
Gates  &  Tyler, 
David  Morse, 


s  kindly  furnished  the 

foil 

owing 

names  and 

1  occupations  in  Plymouth, 

for  the 

year 180S  : 

Wheelwright, 

$10  00 

Blacksmith, 

10  00 

Inn  keeper. 

30  00 

Blacksmith, 

15  00 

Attorney, 

100  00 

Tanner, 

10  00 

Blacksmith, 

10  00 

Mill, 

5  00 

MiU, 

25  00 

Traders, 

100  00 

Tanner  and  Shoemaker, 

15  00 

Tanner  and  Shoemaker, 

15  00 

Inn  keeper, 

30  00 

Wheelwright, 

10  00 

Inn  keeper. 

50  00 

Blacksmiths, 

20  00 

Tailor, 

10  00 

Clothier,  . 

50  00 

Hatter, 

10  00 

Inn  and  Trader, 

60  00 

Trader, 

100  00 

Mill, 

20  00 

Cooper, 

10  00 

Joiner, 

20  00 

Traders, 

100  00 

Wheelwright, 

10  00 

Tin  maker, 

15  00 

Clothier, 

10  00 

Mill, 

45  00 

Min, 

35  00 

Blacksmith, 

20  00 

Traders, 

100  00 

Tin  maker, 

15  00 

Shoemaker, 

10  00 

MiU, 

15  00 

Tanner, 

25  00 

Clock  maker, 

20  00 

Sadler, 

40  00 

Hatter, 

10  00 

Cooper, 

10  00 

Physician, 

34  00 

Physician, 

34  00 

Physician, 

67  00 

Joiner, 

10  00 

Joiner, 

20  00 

Mill, 

60  00 

Mill, 

90  00 

$1,530  00 

IMOGKAI'IIICAI.    SKKICIIES.  3S7 

HIKAM    PIERCE. 

Hiram  Pierce  was  born  in  Cornwall,  Conn.,  December  27, 
1800,  and  died  in  Thomaston,  October  17,  1875.  ^^  ^^^  '^^^ 
son  of  John  Pierce,  who  was  the  son  ol"  Captain  Joshua  Pierce, 
both  ot  Cornwall.  Mr.  Pierce  received  a  common  school  edu- 
cation. His  boyhood  days  were  occupied  with  larm  life,  after- 
wards teaching  school  in  his  native  town.  He  learned  the  trade 
of  joiner  and  cabinet  maker,  living  in  VVaterbury  for  a  time. 
He  moved  to  Plymouth  alwut  the  time  of  his  majority  to  engage 
in  making  clock  cases  for  Seth  Thomas,  and  in  connection  with 
Deacon  W.  P.  Judson,  for  some  years  made  all  the  clock  cases, 
under  contract,  for  Mr.  Thomas.  The  work  at  that  time  was  all 
done  by  hand. 

He  married  Charolette  S.  Bancroft,  of  East  Windsor,  Conn., 
in  1838,  purchased  a  farm  and  went  there  where  he  remained 
two  years,  when  he  returned  to  Plymouth  at  the  urgent  solicita- 
tion of  Mr.  Thomas,  to  take  ciiarge  of  his  office,  which  in 
addition  to  the  clock  business,  included  a  cotton  mill  and  a  large 
farm.  In  this  business  relation  he  carried  liurdens  that  but  few 
men  could.  After  the  Thomas  Manufacturing  Company  was 
formed  for  the  manufacture  of  brass  clocks,  he  was  appointed 
secretary.  He  also  took  an  active  part  in  religious  and  educa- 
tional matters,  and  was  prominently  identified  with  the  Congre- 
gational Church  in  Plymouth  Center,  in  1S30,  at  which  time 
Rev.  Luther  Hart  was  pastor,  but  after  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Thomaston  was  founded,  he  removed  his  membership 
there.  He  was  also  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  over  forty  vears, 
and  served  as  assessor,  selectman,  etc.,  and  was  a  trusted  adviser 
and  councilor  for  a  wide  circle.  He  served  his  town  in  the 
legislature  in  1861.  In  politics  he  was  a  VVHiig,  and  an  ardent 
admirer  of  Henry  Clay,  later  becoming  a  Republican. 

He  buried  his  first  wife  in  June,  184S,  i)v  whom  he  had  five 
children.  A  year  after  he  married  Sarah  E.  Beers,  of  Cornw^ill, 
Conn.,  by  whom  he  had  one  child. 

Among  his  last  efforts  for  the  improvement  of  the  place, 
was  the  planning  and  securing  of  the  substantial  addition  to  the 
beautiful  cemetery  on  the  hillside,  where  he  sleeps,  awaiting  the 
resurrection  of  the  just. 

His  children  are  all  married,  and  reside  as  follows : 
Wm.  J.,  married  Elizabeth  A.  Capron,  of  New  Britain,  Conn., 
resides  in  Hartford;  Joseph  B.,  married  Sophia  A.  Boardman, 
of  Hartford,  resides  in  Hartford:  Charlotte  S  ,  married  Horace 
A.  Potter,  of  Thomaston,  resides  in  Thomaston  ;  S.  Maria, 
married  Alexander  Hamilton,  of  West  Hartford,  Conn.,  died 
March  17,  1S63;  Edward  H.,  married  .Susan  C  Beers,  of 
Stratford,  Conn.,  resides  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  ;  Alice  E..  married 
Dr.  E.  T.  Bradstreet,  of  Thomaston,  resides  in  ]Meriden,  Conn. 

HENRV    S.    MINOR. 

Henry  S.  Minor,  who  resides  on  the  Wvllvs  Atvvater  farm 
in  the  eastern  part  of  Plymouth,    was  born   in    Harwinton,   Julv 


388 


HISTORY    OF    PIAiMOU'l  II. 


Henr\'  S.  Minor. 


..^  '^ 

,f 

■i'^' 

•Sr 

^^t0»&>m*^ 

--«<**^.,j^ 

j^^ 

'■•■""'^^I^HB 

^       1 

Hiram  Minor. 


UIOCiKAlMIICAI.    SKETCHES,  3S9 

17,  1S34.  -^'^  parents  were  Hiram  Minor  and  Chloe  Button, 
who  was  a  granddauii^hter  of  David  Button,  the  first  deacon  ol' 
the  Congregational  Chuicli  in  Plymouth.  Hiram  was  the  son  of 
Joshua  Minor  and  Biadama  Alcott,  who  was  sister  to  the  lather 
of  A.  Bronson  Alcott,  and  was  born  in  Southington,  January  24, 
1S04,  his  folks  moving  to  Wolcott  when  he  was  quite  small. 
Tne  subject  of  this  sketch,  in  early  life,  was  a  lock  maker,  then 
he  drifted  into  the  livery  business,  owning,  for  several  years, 
what  is  now  the  hotel  property  in  Terryville,  but  is  now  a  farm- 
er by  occupation.  He  married  Theresa,  daughter  of  Henry 
Atwater,  to  whom  five  children  were  born,  one  daughter,  Eva, 
being  the  only  sur\i\ing  one. 

BUKK    SMITH    BEACH. 

Burr  Smith  Beach  was  born  in  Northfield,  Conn.,  Novem- 
ber 27,  1S33,  and  was  the  oldest  son  in  a  family  of  eleven  chil- 
dren. His  father  was  Isaac  C.  Beach  and  his  mother  Eunice 
Maria  Beecher,  a  lineal  descendent  of  Br.  Lyman  Beecher. 
His  early  life  was  spent  on  his  fathei's  farm,  and  in  working 
for  neighboring  families.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  came  to 
Plymouth  Hollow,  now  Thomaston,  where  he  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  a  contractor  in  the  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Company.  In 
1S48  he  severed  his  connection  with  the  clock  factory,  came  to 
Terryville  and  took  a  position  with  the  Eagle  Lock  Company. 
As  a  boy  he  showed  great  musical  ability,  and  the  year  after  he 
came  to  Terryville,  was  chosen  chorister  of  the  choir  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church,  which  position  he  held  for  about  twenty-five 
years,  during  which  time  he  built  up  the  choir,  so  that  it  was 
known  in  adjoining  towns  as  one  of  the  best  volunteer  choirs  in 
the  vicinity,  if  not  in  the  state.  He  led  the  singing  in  the  Sab- 
bath School  for  nearly  twenty-five  years,  and  was  also  a  success- 
ful teacher  in  the  rudiments  of  music. 

He  united  wdth  the  Congregational  Church  in  1S52,  where 
he  always  attended  regularly  He  was  married  Januarv  6,  1S52, 
to  Fanny  Jane  Blakesley,  daughter  of  Beacon  Milo  Blakesley, 
and  had  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  still  living.  Buring 
the  first  year  of  their  marriage  he  erected  a  house  on  Soutli 
street,  which  they  occupied  as  long  as  they  lived. 

Although  working  as  a  contractor  for  the  Eagle  Lock  Com- 
pany, he  was  always  interested  in  farming,  and  in  the  raising  of 
thorough-bred  stock,  especially  Jersey  cows. 

Becember  31,  1S73,  his  health  being  somewhat  impaired, 
he  left  the  employ  of  the  Eagle  Lock  Company  and  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  life  on  his  small  farm.  He  was  a  staunch 
Republican  and  held  several  town  offices  during  his  life.  He 
died  October   16,    1SS9. 

DR.    WILLIAM    WOODRUFF. 

Br.  William  VVoodruft'  was  born  in  New  Haven,  July  17, 
1804,  and  had  he  lived  one  month  longer,  until  July,  1S93, 
would    have    reached    his    eighty-ninth    birthday.      He  was  the 


39° 


HISTORY    OF    Pl.YMOUTH. 


turr  S    Deach. 


Dr.  William  Woodruff. 


BIOGKAl'HICAL    SKETCHES.  39I 

youngest  of  three  sons  of  Dr.  Gideon  W^oodruirand  Sarah  Ilea- 
ton,  ot  Plymouth,  and  traced  liis  lineage  to  Matthew  WoodruH', 
who  came  from  Farmington  to  Hartford  in  1641.  In  liis  infancy 
the  parents  of  Dr.  Woodruff  returned  to  Plymouth,  wheie 
they  previously  resided,  and  remained  until  the  death  of  the 
elder  Dr.  WoodruH',  who  for  many  years  was  a  medical  practi- 
tioner in  the  town.  Dr.  Woodrutf  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  the 
training  and  scholarship  of  Rev.  Luther  Hart,  being  at  one  time 
his  pupil.  He  first  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  under  Dr. 
Jonathan  Knight  about  1824,  and  continued  under  the  direction  of 
Dr.  Nathan  Smith,  both  well  known  physicians.  He  graduated 
from  the  medical  department  of  Yale  in  1826,  and  located  as  a 
physician  in  Waterbury.  Soon  after,  however,  he  removed  to 
Plymouth,  at  the  urgent  request  of  friends,  and  for  many  years 
enjoyed  a  large  and  lucrative  practice.  Nearly  twenty  years 
before  his  death  he  relinquished  most  of  his  practice  and  gave 
considerable  time  to  travel — visiting  Europe,  California,  Canada, 
the  South,  and  many  other  places. 

He  was  a  man  of  activity  and  energy  and  believed  in  plenty 
of  exercise,  a  belief  which  he  put  in  daih'  practice.  In  1838  he 
married  Martha  Thomas  (since  deceased),  a  daughter  of  Seth 
Thomas,  the  originator  of  the  clock  industry  in  Thomaston,  now 
the  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Company.  Only  one  son,  William  T. 
Woodruff,  president  of  the  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Company,  sur- 
vives. Dr.  Woodruff  was  for  manv  years,  and  at  his  death,  a 
member  of  the  Congreeational   Church. 


ROBERT    GRAHAM     JOHNSON. 

Robert  Giaham  Johnson  was  born  December  31,  1779;  mar- 
ried Hannah  Bradley  in  November,  1802,  and  after  her  death. 
Wealthy  Hummiston,  September  29,  1813.  His  children  were: 
Julia,  born  June  i,  1804,  who  married  David  Sherman,  went  to 
Pennsylvania,  and  died  in  March,  1849,  leaving  children  ;  Jairus, 
born  November  19,  1808,  died  vSeptember  4,  1830;  Hannah, 
born  April  8,  181 3,  married  Eben  Pritchard,  died  in  Waterbury, 
March  2,  1876,  leaving  several  children  ;  Esther,  born  October 
13,  1814,  mairied  Lynes  Pettibone,  lived  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
died  February  24,  184 cj,  leaving  two  children,  since  dead;  Sarah 
Ann,  born  December  23,  1816,  married  Samuel  Pettibone,  lived 
in  Alabama,  died  December  25,  1885,  leaving  several  children  ; 
Junius  J.,  born  June  18,  1819,  married  Charlotte  Romaine,  died 
in  New  York,  September  12,  1869,  leaving  several  children; 
William  N.,  born  June  23,  1821,  married  Adelia  Dudley,  died 
in  New  York,  December  19,  1S52,  leaving  several  children; 
Mary,  born  March  29.  1824,  married  Jason  M.  Clemence,  died 
at  Terryville,  June  11,  1S56,  leaving  one  son;  Edwin,  born 
December  i,  1826,  married  Sarah  Bartlett,  was  a  Congregational 
minister,  died  in  New  Y'ork,  December  25,  1883,  leaving  three 
daughters;  Miranda,  born  October  28,  1829,  married  James  C. 
IMix.  lives  (189=^)  now  at  Cranford,  N.  J.,  and  Harriet,  born 
October  12,  1835,  died  Ai:)ril  9,  1836. 


39' 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


R.  G.  Johnson. 


F.  T.  Cook 


BIOGKAPlllCAL    SKKICJIKS.  393 

Mr.  Johnson  and  his  wife  were  members  of  the  Plymouth 
Congregational  Church  until  1S37,  when  he  became  one  of  the 
Hrst  subscribers  to  the  Teiryville  Congregational  Church,  and 
the  next  year  contributed  toward  the  church  bell.  He  kept  a 
cooper  shop  on  the  hill  nearly  opposite  Elizur  Fenn's  house  and 
attended  the  old  toll  gate,  which  afterwards  was  removed  to  in 
front  of  the  residence  of  Oliver  Smith  near  Plymouth  Center. 
He  tlivided  his  time  between  his  trade  and  teaming  between 
Plymouth  and  Hartford,  but  later  when  the  clock  business  was 
thriving  he  dropped  the  cooper  business  and  devoted  the  remain- 
der of  his  life  to  his  team  work.  He  was  the  first  person  to 
introduce  matches  in  the  community,  and  Stephen  Fenn  has  in 
his  possession  one  of  the  old  time  match  boxes  that  Mr.  Johnson 
brought  to  town.  It  was  customary  in  those  days  to  keep  wood 
coals  smouldering,  so  that  when  a  fire  was  wanted  it  could  be 
fanned  into  brightness  and  started  up.  Often  the  spark  of  fire 
would  be  gone  and  the  coals  would  be  borrowed  at  a  neighbor- 
ing house.  JNIr.  Jolmson  died  October  28,  1861,  aged  eighty- 
two  years.  '* 

F.     T.     COOK. 

Frederick  Thomas  Cook,  the  Terry vi lie  druggist,  was  born 
May  20,  1866,  and  is  a  son  of  the  late  Plomer  E.  Cook.  He 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
years  went  to  work  in  the  drug  store  E.  VV.  Merriman.  After- 
wards attended  the  College  of  Pharmacy  in  New  Yoi'k,  and 
passed  the  state  examination  of  the  board  of  pharmacy  at  Hart- 
ford, Conn.  He  bought  out  N.  M.  Plumb's  drug  store,  and 
some  time  later  was  in  partnership  with  T.  B.  McNamara, 
which  continued  for  several  years.  He  has  now  been  the  sole  pro- 
prietor of  the  store  in  E.  M.  Dailev's  building,  since  November 
16,  1S93.  Besides  his  complete  drug  Inisiness,  he  carries  a  fine 
stock  of  confectionery,  stationery  and  periodicals.  Lucien  E. 
Rouse  is  employed  b}'  him  as  clerk. 

PHILO    LEWIS. 

Philo  Lewis,  who,  with  his  brother,  John  C,  kept  the  vil- 
lage store,  came  to  Terry ville  about  the  year  1837.  He  alternated 
with  his  brother  as  the  political  complexion  changed  in  being 
postmaster.  After  a  residence  of  eight  Aears  in  Terryville,  he 
removed  to  New  Haven,  where  he  died  in  1859,  ^fJ^^^  fifty-five 
years.  His  first  wife  was  Elner  Swift  of  Cornwall,  to  whom 
three  children  were  born  :  Sarah,  married  to  Homer  Peck  ;  El- 
ner, married  to  ex-Governor  H.  B.  Bigelow,  and  Martha,  mar- 
ried to  H.  J.  Gavlord  of  Binghampton.  His  second  wife  was  a 
Miss  Sanford  and  is  still  living  in  New  Haven.  Her  children 
are:  Emma,  married  to  Edwin  F.  Mersick,  and  Hattie,  un- 
married. 

LYMAN    BALDWIN. 

Lyman  Baldwin  was  of  English  origin.  His  ancestors 
settled  in  New  England  at  a  verv  earlv  dav,   and  farming  was 


394 


IIISrOKY    OF    PI.VMOU'l'Jl. 


Philo   Lewis 


Lvman  Baldwin. 


liKKJKAl'JlK  AL    bKKlCllJiS.  395 

their  chief  occupation  for  many  generations.  His  grandfather 
was  Ebenezer  Bahlwin,  who  came  from  old  Milford  and  settled 
in  the  town  (if  Plymouth.  lie  had  a  family  of  ciiildren,  of  whom 
Thaddeus  was  one,  who  was  born  in  Plymouth,  and  married 
Thankful  Alcock,  and  had  the  following  children,  viz.  :  Poll) , 
Thankful,  Hannah,  Thaddeus,  Lydia,  Lyman,  David  and  Nicy, 
who  died  at  twenty-one,  and  all  the  remainder  of  this  large 
family  lived  to  be  old  people.  Thaddeus,  Sr,,  was  a  farmer. 
He  died  far  advanced  in  life,  and  his  wife  lived  to  be  ninety 
years  of  age.  Lyman  Baldwin  was  born  near  where  his  son, 
Lyman  D.,  now  resides.  He  married  Polly  Ailing  of  Terry- 
ville,  and  had  four  children,  viz:  Hiram,  Mary  P.,  Lyman  D. 
and  Hannah,  all  of  whom  were  born  in  the  old  homestead  now 
in  the  possession  of  Lyman  D.  Mr.  Baldwin  was  a  farmer  by 
occupation  and  a  dealer  in  lumber,  which  he  manufactured.  In 
politics  he  was  a  Whig  and  held  some  minor  town  offices.  He 
was  a  captain  of  state  militia  and  was  known  as  Captain  Bald- 
win. He  received  a  severe  injury,  which,  after  lingering  seven 
months,  caused  his  death,  March  6,  1S59.  His  wife  died 
August  29,  i860. 

Lyman  D.  Baldwin,  who  now  resides  on  the  old  homestead, 
was  born  January  19,  1825.  He  was  reared  on  the  farm, 
receiving  such  advantages  for  an  education  as  the  district  schools 
of  his  day  atlbrded.  At  nineteen  he  commenced  teaching  school 
winters,  which  he  followed  for  seventeen  years,  in  which  he 
was  very  successful.  He  is  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  in  con- 
nection he  owns  and  runs  a  grist  and  saw  mill.  He  served  as 
acting  school  visitor  of  Plymouth  for  twenty-one  years,  and  has 
been  a  member  of  the  scliool  board  for  over  thirty  years.  He 
has  been  assessor,  and  represented  the  town  in  the  legislature  in 
1S71,  1S77  and  1S79,  serving  on  the  committees  of  constitutional 
amendments,  temperance  and  education.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bald- 
win are  members  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Plymouth, 
of  which  he  is  deacon.  He  is  liberal  toward  the  church  and 
charitable  to  the  poor. 

On  the  14th  of  May,  18^4,  he  married  Emily,  daughter  of 
Erastus  Fenn,  of  Plymouth.  Their  children  were  as  follows, 
viz:  Edward  P.,  born  December  16,  1859,  died  May  20,  1864; 
Minnie  E.,  born  December  24,  1864,  died  December  6,  1875  • 


THOMAS   J.    BRADSTREET. 

Thomas  Jeflerson  Bradstreet,  who  was  long  a  resident  of 
Thomaston,  traced  his  ancestry  back  to  a  non-conformist  minis- 
ter, who  died  in  161 7,  leaving  a  son,  Simon  Bradstreet,  who 
was  born  at  Herbling,  Lincolnshire,  England,  in  1603.  Simon 
came  to  this  country  to  the  young  settlement  in  Massachusetts 
Bay  in  1630.  He  was  identified  with  the  early  history  of  the 
colony.  He  had  several  sons  and  daughters ;  his  fourth  son, 
John,  settled  in  Topsfield,  on  a  portion  of  the  land  granted  to 
his  father.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  vSimon,  who  married  a 
daughter  of  Rev.  Josepli  Capen  of  the  same  town.     Their  son 


396 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


T.  J.  Bradstreet. 


George  T.  Cook. 


i;Kj(,l{AI"mt.  Al,    SKlilClltS.  397 

John,  the  graiuU'ather  of  T.  J.  Bradstreet,  also  a  farmer,  married 
EHzabeih  Fisk  ot  W'endham,  JSlass.,  March  2,  1718.  They  had 
se\eral  daughters  and  one  son,  Dudley,  a  name  that  has  been 
well  preserved  among"  tho  Bradstreets,  while  Simon  has  ceased 
to  be  a  family  name.  Thomas  G.,  the  sixth  son  of  Dutlley 
JJradstreet,  was  born  April  7,  1807,  on  the  old  farm  at  Tops- 
Held,  and  removetl  with  the  famil)-  to  Danvers,  in  April,  iSio. 
In  the  fall  of  1830  he  entered  Yale  College,  with  the  intention  of 
studying  law  on  the  completion  of  his  college  course.  During 
the  winter  ol'  i830-'3i  he  became  interested  in  the  subject  of 
religion,  changed  his  plans,  and  after  graduating  in  1834  he  en- 
tered the  Theological  Seminary  in  New  Haven  to  stud}-  for  the 
ministry.  At  the  close  of  the  usual  term  of  three  yeais  he 
received  an  invitation  to  preach  to  a  church  and  society  just 
organized  in  that  part  of  Plymouth,  now  Thomaston.  After 
laboring  here  for  about  two  months  his  health  began  to  fail,  he 
left  for  several  weeks,  after  which  he  returned  and  renewed  his 
labors,  assisted  for  a  short  time  by  a  young  man  who  had  sup- 
plied his  place  during  his  absence.  Later  he  engaged  to  supplv 
the  pulpit  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Meridcn  for  four 
months.  The  following  winter,  iS38-'39,  he  preached  in  the 
Second  Congregational  Church  in  New  London.  His  health 
continuing  feeble  he  finally  gave  up  his  chosen  profession.  Li 
the  autumn,  November  4,  1840,  he  was  married  to  Amanda, 
daughter  of  the  late  Seth  Thomas,  and  engaged  in  his  employ 
the  next  spring  as  superintendent  of  his  cotton  factory.  In  this 
position  he  continued  for  fifteen  years,  when  he  gave  up  his 
position  to  travel  for  the  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Companv.  In  this 
employment  he  continued  until  the  commencement  of  the  late 
civil  war.  Then  he  was  engaged  in  various  kinds  of  business 
for  himself;  improving  his  land  near  the  village,  conducting  farm 
work,  doing  such  business  as  is  usually  connected  with  house 
building,  rumiing  a  saw  mill,  grist  mill,  feed  and  flour 
store,  etc.  Of  his  children,  Thomas  Dudley  Bradstreet  is  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Company  ;  Albert  P. 
Bradstreet  is  the  well  known  lawyer  and  judge ;  George  P. 
Bradstreet  is  general  manager  of  his  father's  business;  Mary 
Amanda  married  Professor  J.  R.  French  of  New  Haven,  who 
is  principal  of  one  of  the  public  schools  there  :  Dr.  E.  T.  Brad- 
street is  a  graduate  ot  Yale  and  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons in  New  York,  and  is  practicing  his  profession  in  jMenden, 
this  state. 

GEORGE    T.    COOK. 

George  T.  Cook  was  born  in  West  Camden,  N.  Y.,  October 
10,  1840.  His  parents  were  Arba  and  Hipsibah  Cook,  who 
spent  their  last  years  in  Plymouth.  George  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  Company  D.,  19th  C.  V.,  August  8,  1862,  and  was  mustered 
out  Jvdy  7'  1865.  He  served  in  the  defense  of  Alexandria  until 
May  17,  1864,  when  he  was  ordered  to  the  front,  wdiere  he  car- 
I  ied  a  musket  for  about  two  months,  when  he  served  in  the  band 
lor  the  remainder  of  his  term.       He   was    in    the   battle   at  Cold 


39S 


HISI<)R^•    OF     IM.VMOUril, 


E    L    Perkirii'  Residence. 


Priispor  Warnt 


lilOfJKAl'JllCAI.    SKETCirES.  399 

Harbor  and  was  slightly  wouiuled,  and  was  also  in  a  skirmish 
at  Petersburg.  After  returning  from  the  war  he  was  emploved 
as  a  mechanic  by  the  Eagle  Lock  Company,  but  for  several  vears 
past  has  been  in  the  bakeiy  busines'S,  and  is  doing  a  flourishing 
trade  at  Bristol,  where  he  has  recently  erected  commodious  ancl 
convenient  quarters. 

E.    L.    PERKINS. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Belchertovvn,  Mass., 
September  6,  1S45.  Me  attended  school  until  tlie  breaking  out 
of  the  civil  war.  The  principal  of  the  school  and  the  boys  of  his 
class  enlisted,  but  he  being  too  young,  was  not  allowed  to  go. 
But  later,  the  authorities  being  less  particular  about  age,  he  en- 
listed in  the  Forty-sixth  Regiment  of  Massachusetts  Volunteeis, 
Agust  23,  1S62,  and  took  part  in  nearly  all  the  marches  and  en- 
gagements during  its  term  of  service,  and  was  one  of  the  two 
hundred  and  thirty  of  his  regiment  to  volunteer  to  go  to  the  re- 
lief of  Maryland,  after  their  term  of  service  had  expired.  After 
the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  he  was  mustered  out  of  service  at 
Springfield,  Mass.,  July  23,  1S63,  and  worked  there  on  small 
arms  for  the  government,  until  about  the  close  of  the  war. 
From  vSpringfield,  he  went  to  Chicopec,  Mass.,  in  the  employ  of 
the  Gaylord  Alfg.  Co.,  manufacturers  of  locks.  In  July,  1S66, 
he  came  to  Terryville,  Conn.,  and  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Eagle  Lock  Co  He  married  Emilv  L.  Carter,  oldest  daughter 
of  Charles  Carter,  of  Terryville,  Mav  13,  1871.  In  187^,  he 
went,  with  a  former  president  of  the  Eagle  Lock  Companv.  to 
Bridgeport,  to  start  a  new  lock  companv.  In  1S78,  he  interest- 
ed capital  and  formed  the  Western  Lock  Company,  at  Geneva, 
Ohio.  Six  years  later,  his  health  failing,  he  resigned  his  posi- 
tion as  superintendent  and  moved  to  Cleveland,  Ohio.  After  a 
partial  recovery  of  his  health,  he  again  identified  himself  with 
the  Eagle  Lock  Company,  and  purchased  the  house  represented 
in  this  article.  Here  he  resided  until  October,  1S93,  when,  on 
account  of  sickness,  he  purchased  a  place  in  Avon  Park,  Florida, 
and  has  been  there  winters,  spending  his  summers  at  Terrvville. 
His  present  residence  has  been  owned  bv  several  prominent  men 
of  the  town,  notably,  by  William  E.  ]NIcKee,  Joseph  Adams, 
Frank  W.  Mix  and  Deacon  Milo  Blakesle\ . 

PROSPER  WARNER. 

Prosper  Warner  was  born  in  Pl^ymouth,  in  JSIay,  1S07,  '^'^^^ 
spent  his  boyhood  days  upon  the  farm,  but  at  an  early  age, 
he  went  forth  to  earn  his  own  living,  and  for  some  time  was  a 
peddler  through  the  Southern  vStates,  with  headquarters  in  New 
Jersey,  which  occupation  he  followed  until  1838;  at  which  time 
he  returned  to  his  native  town,  remaining  thereuntil  1840,  when 
he  removed  to  West  Haven.  Mr.  Warner  married  for  his  first 
wife.  Miss  Acha  Perry  of  New  Jersey,  and  for  his  second, 
Charlotte  S.  Cope  of  New  Haven,  who  now  resides  there.  IMr. 
Wainer  spent  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  in  superintending  the 


400 


HISTOKY    OF    PJ.VMOUTH. 


David  D.  Warner. 


Markham  Scott 


lUOGUArillCAI.    SKK'ICHES.  4OI 

large  property  that  he  was  so  successful  in  accumulating.  He 
was  a  man  of  eminent  public  s[Mrit,  as  is  evidenced  by  his  large 
and  iVequent  contributions  to  the  improvement  and  advancement 
of  his  native  town,  and  those  that  he  came  in  contact  with  else- 
where during  his  life.  He  was  well  disposed,  genial,  and 
always  considered  excellent  company  by  his  host  of  acquaint- 
ances. He  was  honest  and  uj^right,  and  always  believed  in 
teaching  others  to  that  effect.  He  was  senior  warden  of  Christ 
Church  at  West  Haven,  for  over  thirty  years,  which  church,  St. 
Peter's  of  Plymouth  and  the  North  field  church,  were  well  re- 
membered in  his  will.  He  died  in  August,  iSSS,  at  the 
ad\-anced  age  of  eighty-one  3ears. 

DA\1D    DUrrON    WARNER. 

DavitI  Button  Warner  was  born  in  the  town  of  Plymouth, 
on  tlie  tenth  day  of  April,  1794?  ^'^d  died  there,  February  14, 
1S65.  He  marrietl  Rachel  Clark  of  New  York  State.  Eunice 
Warner,  sister  of  Noah  Warner,  was  the  wife  of  Eli  Terry, 
James  Warner  was  their  grandfather,  and  John, and  David  Dut- 
ton  were  great  grandfathers,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  being 
named  after  the  latter.  Noah  had  seven  sons  and  three 
daughters.  David,  the  eldest,  had  the  farm,  which  afterwards 
came  into  the  possession  of,  and  is  now  owned  by  his  daughters, 
Mrs.  E.  Dayton  and  Miss  C.  J.  Warner,  who  are  the  fifth  gen- 
eration born  at  the  old  farm-house.  Noah  Warner  was  one  of 
the  first  town  officers  in  1795,  and  John,  his  f:ither,  was  the 
society's  agent  for  the  building  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  the 
year  1745. 

MARKKA M    SCOTT. 

Markham  vScott,  son  of  Levi  and  Sarah  Scott,  was  born  in 
a  log  liouse  in  the  soutli  part  of  Plymouth,  April  23,  1808.  He 
married.  May  12,  1834,  Lois  Wilcox  of  Harwinton,  Conn.,  who 
died  Dec.  g,  1S78.  Before  his  marriage  he  bought  a  small  farm 
on  the  main  I'oad,  about  one-half  mile  west  of  Terryville,  where 
he  resided  until  his  death.  The  children  numbered  three — 
Homer  Augustus,  who  died  in  1856;  Elvira  Cornelia,  now  wife 
of  Geo.  H.  Bates,  and  Abner  Wilcox,  killed  in  the  battle  of 
Winchester,  Va.,  Sept.  19,  1S64. 

Bv  trade,  Mr.  Scott  was  a  carpenter  and  joiner,  and  aided, 
not  only  in  building  up  the  town,  but  also  had  a  hand  in  running 
the  works  of  the  lock  companies  of  Terrvville  in  their  earlier 
days,  for  many  of  the  old-time  wooden  pulleys  were  made  l)y 
him  in  his  little  shop.  In  1850  he  built  himself  a  new  house, 
doing  nearly  all  the  work,  including  doors  and  sashes,  iiimself. 
At  that  time  "a  raising"  was  a  necessity,  and  ardent  spirits 
were  considered  necessary — in  fact,  he  was  told  he  could  not 
raise  his  house  without.  He  replied,  "  Then  it  will  never  he 
raised."  He  was  an  honest  man,  quiet  and  undemonstrative  in 
disposition,  but  firm  in  principle.  He  united  with  tlie  church 
in  Plvmouth  under  Mr.  Hart's  ministry.  He  died  August 
9,  1S90. 


402 


HIS'COKY    OF     PLYMOUTH. 


.^fe^ 


f  I 


Residence  nf  Mrs.  G.  H.  Bates. 


F    H.  Kellogs- 


IJIOGKAI'IIICAI.    SKKICIIKS.  403 

FKEDEKK  K     II.    KEIA.OOi,. 

Fretleiick  H.  Kellogg,  son  ol"  Deacon  Hoi  ace  and  Orpah 
P.  Kellogg,  was  born  in  New  Hartfoid,  July  13,  180S.  Since 
March,  1S25,  Terryville  has  been  his  home.  He  worked  for 
some  years  in  the  clock  shop,  and  later,  for  several  years,  for  the 
Lock  Company.  He  united  with  the  church  in  Plymouth  in 
1S37,  and  is  now  (1895)  the  only  one  living  of  the  original 
members  of  Tenyville  chinch  formed  in  1838.  For  forty  years  he 
was  a  member  of  the  choir.  For  twenty-Hve  years  he  has  l:)een 
secretai-y  and  treasin-er  of  the  Ten-yville  institute.  He  believes 
in  Gen.  2  :  j8,  and  five  times  he  has  performed  well  ///s  part  in 
finding  the  help-meet  whonr  the  Lord  had  made  for  him — fi\e 
times  has  he  airswered,  in  a  practical  way,  the  question,  "A 
virtuous  woman,  who  can  find.?" 

He  was  married  in  August,  1833,  to  Eliza  Ann  Smith  of 
Naugatuck,  who  died  August,  1844.  In  Januarv,  1845,  he 
married  Polly  Steele  of  New  Hartibrd,  who  died,  September, 
i860.  Li  1861,  he  married  Mrs.  Elvira  McKee  Goodwin  of 
Terryville,  who  died  in  1S70.  Lr  1871,  he  married  the  widow 
of  his  brother,  Mrs.  Jerusha  vSpencer  Kellogg  of  New  Hartford, 
who  died,  April.  18S5.  In  June,  1886,  he  married  Mrs.  Emeline 
Loomis  Peek  of  New  Harttbrd.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  two 
children — Sarah  Augusta,  afterwarxls  wife  of  Albert  Bunnell, 
who  died  in  September,  1876,  leaving  four  sons,  and  Arthur 
Goodsell,  who  died  at  Alexandria,  Va.,  November,  1S62 — a 
member  of  Co.  C,  2nd  C.  V.  H.  A. 

J.    STREET    HEMINGWAY. 

Jacob  Street  Hemingway  was  born  in  East  Plymouth,  Janu- 
ary 4,  1791?  and  died  May  28,  1863.  He  was  the  son  of  Deacon 
Jacob  and  Abigal  Lindsey  Hemingway,  who  caiiie  from  Fair 
Haven,  and  located  in  East  Plymouth. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  spent  his  life  in  his  nati\e  town, 
with  the  exception  of  three  years  of  his  childhood,  which  was 
spent  in  Fair  Haven.  He  followed  the  occuption  of  farming  in 
summer,  and  was  engaged  in  the  oyster  business,  with  the  Hem- 
ingways of  Fair  Haven,  in  the  winter.  He  was  one  of  the  first 
subscribers  to  the  building  of  the  Terrvville  Congr'egational 
Churcii,  where  he  was  a  constant  attendant  and  contrilmted  to 
its  support  during  his  life.  He  was  a  staunch  Whig  and  a  gi'eat 
admirer  of  Henry  Clay  and  Daniel  Webster.  He  married  Pollv 
Hinman,  daughter  of  Philemon  Hinman,  of  Harwinton,  who 
lived  to  the  ripe  old  age  of  ninety-one. 

Their  family  consisted  of  seven  children,  six  of  whom  are 
still  living.  The  old  homestead  is  at  present  occupied  by  a 
granddaughter  of  Mr.  Henringway's. 

ENOS    BLAKESLEE. 

New  England  People  are  justlv  proud  of  their  ancestrv. 
Well  may  they  be,  for  the  man  who  will  dare  all  for  God,  is  of 


404 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


J.  S.  Hemingway. 


EiKiS  BlaUeslee. 


bio(;kaimiicai.  skktciii;s  405 

the  stuff  of  which  iieroes  are  made.  Enos  lilakeslee,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  has  sucli  a  line  ot  ancestors.  According 
to  tradition,  one  of  his  ancestry  was  in  tlie  Holy  Wars  with 
Richard  Couer  de  Lion,  while  in  the  early  history  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Colony,  two  brothers  of  this  blood  came  accross  the  sea 
to  carve  out  a  future  for  themselves  and  their  decendants  in  the 
new  world. 

Enos  Blakeslee  was  born  on  Town  Hill,  August  i^, 
1S20,  near  the  four  corners,  and  was  the  son  of  Jared  and  Hulda 
Allen  Blakeslee.  He  grew  up  amid  the  wholesome  influences 
of  a  New  England  home,  and  in  1848,  married  Adaline  E. 
Sevmour  of  Watertown.  Three  children  were  born  to  them — 
Wallace,  Frank  and  Mary.  Mr.  Blakeslee  has  always  taken  a 
keen  interest  in  the  educational  and  moral  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity, and  has  been  intrusted  by  his  fellow  citizens  with 
various  public  offices.  He  represented  the  town  in  the  legisla- 
ture in  1SS2,  has  been  a  member  of  the  district  school  committee, 
and  was  for  thirteen  years  clerk  of  the  district.  He  has  also 
served  the  town  on  the  Board  of  Relief.  Among  Enos 
Blakeslee's  ancestors  was  Moses  Blakeslee,  who  was  elected 
a  deacon  of  the  Congregational  church  of  Plymouth  at  the  time 
of  its  organization  in  1740,  and  was  an  influential  and  honored 
man  in  his  time.  Mr.  Blakesleee  has  also  been  interested  in  the 
life  of  the  church,  serving  as  treasurer  of  the  society  for  twentv- 
two  years. 

In  business  life  he  has  been  engaged  for  moie  than  fift\-  vears 
in  carriage  building,  continuing  at  the  old  stand,  after  all  his 
competitors  had  either  given  up  the  business  or  moved  elsewheie. 
Although  the  business  of  carriage  building  has  principally  gone 
west,  Mr.  Blakeslee  can  still  turn  out  vehicles  which  will  stand 
the  hardest  of  wear  and  tear.  He  represents  that  line  of  sturdv, 
thoughtful,  brainy  New  England  stock  that  has  made  this  little 
portion  of  the  republic  such  a  factor  for  good  in  our  national  life. 

IIOX.    JOHN    BIRGE. 

Hon.  John  Birge,  the  son  of  Nathan  L.  and  Adaline  Al. 
Birge,  is  the  senator  from  the  Fourth  District.  He  belongs  in 
the  thriving  town  of  Bristol,  where  he  is  one  of  the  leading  man- 
ufacturers. He  was  born  in  that  town  August  25,  1853,  being 
now  forty-two  years  of  age.  His  education  was  begun  in  the  com- 
mon schools,  and  finish  bv  an  academic  course  at  the  Lake  Forest 
Academy,  Lake  Forest,  111.  Active  business  early  engaged  his 
attention.  For  this  he  has  predilections  and  uncommon  abilitv. 
He  is  at  present  a  member  of  the  firm  ol  N.  L.  Birge  &  Sons. 
Alwnvs  active  in  politics,  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Republi- 
can State  Central  Committee  for  the  Fourth  Distiict.  In  this 
important  place  be  discharged  his  duties  with  great  efficiencv. 
being  an  excellent  judge  of  men  and  means.  Much  of  the  suc- 
cess of  the  last  campaign  depended  upon  his  wisdom  and  fore- 
sight. He  is  a  believer  in  i:»ure  politics  and  also  in  the  Young 
Men's  movement.      He  was  president  of  the   Young   Men's   Re- 


406 


IIISTOKV    OF    PJ.VMOUTII. 


Hon    J.ilm  Bi 


I  ■■    ■-  - -  ■ 

i 

1 

^ 

m 

^W-^ 

J^- 

Wt 

\ 

-^ 

r 

John  Henr\-  Wood. 


i;i(k;kaimiu  Ai.   ski  iciii;s.  407 

publican  Club,  which  is  associated  with  the  State  League,  and 
has  been  Chairman  of  tlie  Republican  Town  Committee  lor 
several  terms.  He  was  descended  in  the  tenth  generation  from 
the  author  of  our  New  England  s\  stem  of  town  and  municipal 
government,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  settler  and  first  minister 
at  Hartford  in  1636.  Senator  Biige  is  also  descended  in  the 
eighth  generation  of  VVm.  Smith,  a  settler  at  Huntington,  L.  I.  ; 
and  again,  through  a  maternal  line,  in  the  ninth  generation,  of 
George  Smith  of  the  New  Haven  Colony  of  1638.  He  is  also  a 
descendent  of  Eli  Terry  and  Theophilus  Smith,  who  was  a  soldier 
in  the  Revolution. 

The  Birge's  are  descended  from  the  Puritans,  who  came 
over  on  or  about  the  time  of  the  Mayflower.  Senator  Birge,  in 
1S74,  married  Miss  M.  Antoinette  Root,  daughter  of  S.  E.  Root 
of  Bristol,  by  whom  he  had  four  children:  Adaline,  Natlian, 
Marguerite  and  J.  Kingslev,  all  of  whom  are  now  living. 

JOHN     UENKV    WOOD. 

John  Henry  Wood  was  born  in  Plymouth,  jime  30,  1S2S. 
He  is  the  oldest  son  of  Henry  antl  Julia  (Ford)  Wood,  and 
grandson  of  James  and  Susan  (Elmer)  Wood,  of  East  Windsor. 
His  mother  was  a  direct  descendant  of  Barnabas  Ford,  one  ol 
the  earliest  settlers  of  Northbury  (now  Thomaston),  then  a  part 
of  the  town  of  Waterbury,  and  began  early  in  life  to  earn  his 
own  living,  working  at  farming  summers  and  attending  school 
during  the  winter  months. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  received  from  his  father,  his  time 
as  a  heritage,  and  immediately  contracted  with  ]Morse  &  Blakes- 
lee  (both  cousins  of  his),  to  serve  a  three  years'  apprenticeship  in 
learning  the  trade  of  making  clock  movements,  remaining  one 
vear  in  the  employ  of  the  firm  after  the  expiration  of  the  term. 
From  1848,  with  the  exception  of  about  nine  months,  until  June 
I,  1892,  he  was  connected  with  the  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Co.,  as 
contractor  and  foreman,  and  the  last  thirt}'  years  as  superintend- 
ent of  the  clock  movement  factory  of  the  company.  He  was 
married  at  the  age  of  tw^enty-one  to  Mary  Ostrom  of  Torrington, 
by  whom  he  had  two  children,  a  daughter  and  son.  The 
daughter,  Eliza,  married  Lieutenant  Orsamus  B.  Sawyer,  of 
Company  A,  Fourteenth  Regiment,  Connecticut  Volunteers, 
and  died  February  17.  1S72,  leaving  two  sons,  Frederick  H.  and 
Wilbur  y.,  and  one  dnugliter.  who  died  in  infancy.  Lieutenant 
Sawyer  died  November  16.  1874,  leaving  his  two  orphan  boys  in 
the  care  of  their  grandparents,  John  H.  and  Mary  Wood. 
These  grandsons  were  graduated  from  the  Thomaston  High 
vSchool  in  1887,  their  class  being  tlie  first  to  receive  diplomas 
from  the  school.  In  the  fall  of  1890  they  entered  the  class  of '94 
W^esleyan  University  at  Middletown,  Conn.,  and  w^ould  have 
graduated  together,  but  Wilbur  was  obliged  to  leave  early  in  his 
senior  year,  on  account  of  illness,  and  on  March  3,  1894,  he 
departed  this  life.  Frederick,  the  elder  grandson,  graduated 
with  his  class  at   Wesle\an.  in  1S94.      At  ]:)rcsent  he  is  pursuing 


4oS 


msroKv  OF  Plymouth. 


A    B    Curti 


Cliloe  Cook  Barnes. 


BIOGKAIMIICAr.    SKK'ICIIES.  4O9 

a  course  of  stiuly  at  the  Boston  University,  School  of  Theology, 
Boston,  Mass. 

The  son,  Henry  O.  Wood,  assisted  his  father  a  number  of 
years  by  keeping  the  books  of  the  department  vmder  his  charge 
with  the  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Co  ;  he  is  now  employed  as  ship- 
ping clerk  by  the  Waterbury  lirass  Co.,  Waterbury,  Conn. 

Mr.  Wood  is  a  public  spirited,  kind  hearted,  affable  gentle- 
man, and  a  man  of  thorough  temperance  principles  and  habits. 
In  politics  he  is  a  Republican,  having  been  connected  with  that 
partv  since  its  formation.  He  has  been  grand  juror,  school  com- 
mittee, and  trustee  for  twenty-nine  years  of  the  Methodist  I*2pis- 
copal  Church,  and  was  chairman  of  the  building  committee 
which  erected  the  present  chinch  in  iS66.  He  was  one  of  the 
original  incorporators  of  the  Thomaston  Savings  Bank,  and  its 
president  at  the  present  time.  He  was  also  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  Thomaston  Knife  Co.,  of  which  he  was  chosen  president, 
and  has  served  as  such  up  to  the  present  time. 

Mr.  Wood  was  a  member  of  the  general  assembly  of  Con- 
necticut from  Thomaston  in  1887,  having  in  the  election  a  clear 
majority  over  three  other  candidates  for  the  same  office  ;  he  was 
assigned  bv  Speaker  Hoyt  to  the  committee  on  banks. 

John  Henry  Wood's  father,  Henry  Wood,  was  a  cousin  ol 
John  W.  Barbour,  author  of  Connecticut  Historical  Collection, 
published  in  1S36,  the  first  history  of  Connecticut.  John  Henry's 
mother  was  Julia  Ford,  a  daughter  of  Hial  Ford  and  Lucina 
Preston  Ford,  and  Lucina  Preston  was  a  sister  of  Stiles  Preston 
and  Wursuld  Preston  Humphreyville  of  Northfield,  who  died 
May  26,  1893,  aged  102  years,  three  months  and  fourteen  days. 
They  were  born  in  Harwinton  ;  their  father  was  John  Preston, 
their  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Deacon  Reuben  Bristol,  and  her 
mother  was  Eleanor  Stiles,  a  daughter  of  President  Ezra  Stiles, 
of  Yale  College.  Julia  Ford  Wood's  father  was  Hial  Ford,  a 
son  of  Amos  Ford,  and  grandson  of  Ebenezer  Ford,  and  a  great 
grandson  of  Barnabas  Ford,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  North- 
burv,  in  that  part  now  Thomaston. 

ZENAS    COOK. 

Zenas  Cook  was  born  in  Northbury  Society  in  Waterbury, 
Julv  7,  1773;  was  the  son  of  Joel,  the  grandson  of  Ebenezer, 
and  the  great  grandson  of  Henry  Cook,  the  first  permanent  set- 
tler, who  is  known  to  have  built  a  house  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Plymouth  of  1780.  He  was  reared  by  his  uncle,  the  Rev  Ros- 
well  Cook,  of  Montville,  Conn.,  and  became  a  surveyor.  He 
was  one  of  the  surveyors  in  laying  out  through  the,  then  wilder- 
ness, a  highway  from  Rochester  to  Bufialo.  Later  in  life  he 
became  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  wooden  clocks,  at  Water- 
burv,  the  company  of  Clark,  Cook  &  Harrison  having  been 
formed  to  carrv  on  that  business,  but  still  later  in  life,  became  a 
farmer. 

Mr.  Cook  married  in  February.  iSoo,  Polly,  the  daughter 
of  Captain  Samuel  Lewis,  Jr.,   of  Plymouth;   she   died   August 


4IO 


HIS  TOR V    OF    FLVMOUTH. 


Elias  Smith. 


^         : 

rai||||P 

^^^^^BHHn^£^4^ 

m^ 

blias  Sinilli  Hurnestead 


HKXJKAIMIK'AI.    SK  K  It  1 1  KS.  4tl 

24,  1809.  May  20,  1810,  he  inaiiieci  Bet.s\ ,  tlie  daughter  of  Col. 
Pliineas  Porter,  who  died  April  25,  1S51.  His  children  were  : 
William,  vSarah  Curtis,  George  L.,  Lucien  Porter,  Harriet  M., 
Catharine  L.  and  Mary  Elizabeth. 

Joel  Cook,  father  of  Zenas,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution- 
ary war;  in  order  that  he  might  visit  his  family  during  the  en- 
campment of  his  company  at  Danbury,  Joel's  father,  Ebenezer 
Cook,  agreed  to  take  his  son's  place  and  answer  to  his  name  on 
the  roll  call,  but  while  there  he  died  with  the  distemper  and  was 
returned  on  the  death  roll  as  Joel  Cook,  thus  releasing  Joel  from 
service;  but  his  patriotism  led  him  back  to  the  army  and  served 
through  the  war,  receiving  with  his  friend,  Capt.  Camp,  an  hon- 
orable discharge. 

Ebenezer  Cook  had  three  sons  at  Yale  College,  two  of 
whom,  Roswell  and  Justus,  vveie  ministers  of  the  gospel.  Uri, 
the  third  son,  entered  college,  but  soldiers  were  needed  more 
than  scholars,  so  he  left  and  entered  the  army,  only  to  die  with 
that  fatal  camp  fever  in  three  weeks'  time.  He  is  said  to  have 
l)een  a  lirilliant  vounfj  man. 


ELIAS    SMITH. 

Elias  Smith,  son  of  Samuel  and  Hannah  Stacy  Smith,  was 
born  in  Wallingford,  May  17,  1S06.  He  came  to  Terryville 
in  1S39,  and  worked  at  joiner  work  for  Eli  Teny  ;  after  that  he 
worked  at  cases  in  the  clock  shop.  His  father  came  to  Terry- 
ville the  year  following,  and  lived  on  a  small  farm  about  a  mile 
north  of  the  village,  on  the  Plarwinton  i"oad,  where  August 
Matts  now  lives.  He  bought  the  ("arm  of  John  Atkins.  He  was 
a  cooper  by  trade,  as  was  also  Elias.  He  died  in  1S49,  and  his 
wife  in  1872,  aged  ninety-four.  Mr.  Smith  traced  his  ancestry  back 
to  one  Thomas  Smith,  who  was  among  the  first  that  landed  in  New 
Haven,  in  1637.  Thomas  Smith  was  the  cooper  of  the  colony, 
and  each  generation  since,  has  had  one  of  the  same  trade.  He 
married  Nancy  Goodale,  a  native  of  East  Windsor,  in  1S31.  Of 
seven  children,  four  survive;  two  died  in  infancy.  A  son,  Ed- 
ward P.  Smith,  a  member  of  Co.  I,  First  Connecticut  Heavy 
Artillery,  died  at  Fort  Richards,  December  10,  1861,  he  was 
the  first  soldier  that  died,  from  Plymouth ;  the  eldest,  Oliver 
E.,  now  living  in  Chicopee,  Mass.,  married  Antoinette  Alcott, 
of  Wolcott ;  Elizabeth  married  Oscar  F.  Wilcox;  Eugenie  E., 
married  Frederick  Ryal,  now  in  New  Haven,  who  at  one  time 
manufactured  shears  and  scissors,  under  the  firm  name  of  Ryal 
Bros.,  in  what  is  called  the  Burnam-Terry  shop;  vSamuel  G. 
married   Jennie  Johnson,  of  Harwinton. 

One  very  pleasant  incident  in  the  lives  of  jVIr.  and  Mrs. 
Smith,  was  the  celebration  of  their  golden  wedding,  in  18S1, 
when  neighbors  and  friends  filled  the  house,  both  afternoon  and 
evening,  to  congratulate  them  on  this  great  event.  Mrs.  Smith 
died  in  1S93,  after  a  short  illness.  Mr.  Smith  died  August  8, 
1895,  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine,  at  the  home  of  his  daughter,  in 
Chicopee,  Mass.      With  the  exception  of  a  year  and  a  half,  his  life 


412 


HISTORY    OF    PLVMOU'llI. 


Joel  Grijijjs. 


Martin  Griggs. 


BUJtiKAl'lIICAL    SKKTCIIKS. 


4'3 


has  been  spent,  since  1S29,  on  a  farm  north  of  the  village,  which 
he  purchased  of  Henry  Atwater,  the  father  of  the  author  of  this 
hook. 

LUDlNCrrON POT TKK  FAMILY. 

jSloses  Ludington  settled  near  Caleb  Ilumiston's  present 
residence.  He  was  a  surgeon  in  the  French  and  Indian  war  and 
was  killed  at  Lake  Geoige  in  1755.  Of  his  children,  Da\id 
Ludington,  born  August  26,  1733,  alone  settled  in  Northbury. 
July  26,  1753  his  father  deeded,  ''For  the  consitleration  of  the 
love  and  paternal  aflection  which  I  have  and  do  bear  toward  niv 
loving  son,  David  Ludington,  a  certain  piece  of  land  bought  of 
Dr.  Jonas  Weed;"  the  land  has  never  been  sold  and  is  now  a 
part  of  the  tarni  of  G.  S.  and  S.  F.  Potter,  his  decendants.  Dr. 
Weed  was  the  first  physician  in  Northbuiy. 

David  Ludington  was  a  powerful  man,  a  skillful  and  pei- 
sistent  hunter;  he  shot  the  last  deer  killed  in  the  town,  and  was 
one  of  the  fifteen  who  "  bore  lists"  during  the  entire  pastorate 
of  Rev.  Chauncey  Prindle,  in  which  the  present  edifice  of  St. 
Peter's  church  was  built.  He  married  Lois  Basit,  one  of  ibur 
sisters  who  came  to  Northbury.  Their  children  were  Susannah, 
Lois,  Jotham  and  Patience.      He  died  October  31,  1821. 

The  daughters  never  married  and  always  lived  in  the  old 
place.  Jotham  Ludington,  born  July  11,  1763,  married  Abigal 
Anna  Latin,  April  27,  1794.  They  had  one  chikl,  Polly,  born 
March  9,  1795.  His  second  marriage  was  with  Beulah  Fair- 
child,  February  19,  179S;  he  died  July  8,  1848.  Polly  Luding- 
ton married  Sherman  Potter,  March  13,  1S16.  He  was  son  of 
Zenas  and  Betsy  Blakeslee  Potter,  born  August  2,  1790,  and  a 
lineal  decendant  of  Jacob  Potter  who  settled  in  Northbury  about 
173S,  and  of  Captain  Thomas  Blakeslee.  He  was  a  school 
teacher  and  surveyor,  and  private  secietary  for  Gen.  Wm. 
Henry  IL-irrison  in  the  war  of  181 2.  He  died,  September  ^, 
1831.  Their  children  were  Mary  Ann,  Sarah,  Betsey,  Geoige 
Sherman,  Jane  Phinette  and  Shelden  Fairchild.  Each  and  all 
of  the  grandfathers  and  great  grandfathers  of  these  children 
were  incorporators  of  the  town  of  Plvmouth. 

Mary  Ann  was  born,  June  30,  1819,  married  Samuel  Forbes 
of  New  Haven,  and  died,  April  23,  1892,  leaving  two  children  ; 
Alfred  W.  Forbes,  now  serving  his  seventh  term  as  selectman 
of  New  Haven  ;  and  Mary  Anne  wife  of  Dr.  Gustavus  Eliott  of 
New  Haven.  Sarah  was  born,  July  31,  1821  and  lives  on  the 
old  place  (now  in  Thomaston)  with  the  brothers  G.  S.  and  S. 
F.  Potter.  Betsey,  was  born.  May  31,  1823,  married  George 
Gordon,  a  native  of  Scotland,  and  has  two  sons,  George  Luding- 
ton and  Arthur  Munroe  Arthur  M.  married  Mary  S.  Ailing. 
George  Sherman  was  born,  October  16,  182^.  Jane  Phinette 
was  born  October  16,  1827,  married  Lysander  AL  Burnell,  and 
died  July  11,  1877,  at  Jefferson,  111.  Sheldon  Fairchild  was 
born  March  17,  1S30,  married  Leora  Andrus.  Thev  have  two 
children.  Alary  Leora  and  George  Andrus  Potter. 


4H 


HISTORY    OF    PLVMOUIH. 


Franklin  P.  Wilcox. 


Wilbert  N,  Austin. 


bio(;kaimikal  skkichks.  415 

IKAXKI.IX    r.     Wll.COX. 

Franklin  Phelps  Wilcox  was  born  in  the  town  of  Ilai  win- 
ton,  Conn.,  February  6,  1806,  and  died  in  Plymouth,  where  he 
resided  the  most  of  iiis  life,  May  S,  1SS3.  His  early  days  were 
spent  upon  the  farm,  but  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  was  en- 
gaged in  the  japanning  department  of  the  Eagle  Lock  works, 
where  he  had  the  contract  for  that  class  of  work.  lie  mairictl 
Emeline  Holcomb  of  New  York  State,  who  died  in  Pljniouth, 
October  13,  188S. 

Uncle  Wilcox  (the  name  he  was  familiarly  known  by),  was 
somewhat  of  a  joker,  and  always  enjoyed  a  good  joke.  About 
1876,  as  he  had  finished  painting  a  wagon,  there  appeared  on  the 
scene  a  half  dozen  small  boys  who  wanted  a  ride,  he  hesitated  a 
while,  for  fear  some  harm  might  befall  them,  but  finally  took 
them.  A  week  latter  several  more  wanted  a  ride,  claiming  they 
did  not  go  the  first  time,  so  he  decided  to  go  once  more,  if  they 
would  then  leave  him  alone,  and  told  them  to  find  out  how  many 
wanted  to  go.  After  an  apparently  hard  wrecks'  work  they  asked 
him  if  he  could  go  on  Saturday,  when  he  replied  that  he  could, 
but  wanted  to  know  how  many  had  promised  to  go.  Their  answer 
was:  ''eighty  have  promised  to  go,  and  lots  more  can't  tell 
whether  their  mothers  will  let  them  go  or  not."  On  .Saturday 
there  were  ninety-five  of  them,  and  through  the  help  of  Uncle 
Wilcox's  friends,  they  were  all  taken  to  a  grove  to  spend  the 
day.  Thus,  Uncle  Wilcox  became,  through  his  thought  and 
ever  ready  willingness  to  amuse  and  care  for  others,  the  favorite 
of  all,  both  young  and  old. 

WILBERT    N.    AUSTIN. 

Wilbert  N.  Austin  who  is  well  known  throughout  this  sec- 
tion as  the  proprietor  of  the  Thomaston  and  Plymouth  stage 
line,  his  well  equippetl  livery,  sale  and  exchange  stables  in 
Thomaston  and  Plymouth,  came  to  this  place  about  eighteen 
years  ago,  and  for  seven  years  drove  the  stage  for  his  father, 
when  Mr.  Austin  bought  his  father  out  and  entered  into  partner- 
ship with  Mr.  Gregory;  Austin  &  Gregory  running  the  business 
for  about  five  years,  at  which  time  Mr.  Austin  became  the  sole 
proprietor,  and  has  since  conducted  the  business  successfully, 
and  to  his  patrons'  entire  satisfaction  ever  since. 

In  addition  to  the  above  business  he  has  the  carrying  of  the 
mails  to  and  between  four  post-oflices  and  two  railroads.  He 
also  has  charge  of  the  delivery  of  express  from  the  New  England 
and  the  N.  Y.,  N.  H.  &  H.  Railroads.  But  few  families  are 
moved,  or  pianos  moved  in  the  town,  until  after  Mr.  Austin  has 
been  called  upon. 

He  married  on  December  20,  1882,  .Minnie  I.,  daughter  of 
Chas.  H.  Mattoon  of  Plymoutii  ;  they  reside  in  the  large  and 
pretty  house  owned  by  Mrs.  Geo.  Langdon,  and  directly  oppo- 
site the  house  bought  by  Mr.  Austin  from  Mr.  Dewell  sometime 
ago.  Their  children  are  :  Elsworth  Welles,  Arline  and  Roland 
Mattoon. 


4i6 


HISTORY    OK    PI.YMOUTM 


A.  S.  Kelsey. 


AnJrew  Fenn. 


bio(;kapiiicai,  skktches.  417 


S.     KELSEV 


Asa  Strong  Kelsey  was  born  June  15,  1S23,  in  Soullibuiy, 
Conn.  His  early  life  was  passed  in  Milford,  Conn.  lie  has 
resided  in  Plymouth  since  1S45,  a  period  of  fifty  years.  He 
married  in  August,  iS^o,  Julia  S.  Gates,  daughter  of  Christopher 
C.  Gates,  of  East  Haddam,  and  granddaughter  of  Captain 
Jeremiah  Smith,  who  served  in  the  Revolutionary  war. 

Mr.  Kelsey  has  been  a  prominent  business  man  of  the  town, 
his  special  line  being  merchant  tailoring,  in  which  he  did  a  large 
business  before  the  days  of  ready-made  clothing.  He  has  held 
manv  town  offices  and  taken  an  active  interest  in  the  town.  His 
children  are  Julia  S.  Kelsey,  wife  of  Marshall  W.  Leach,  Emma 
S.  Kelsey,  Frank  G.  Kelsey  and  Joseph  wS.  Kelsey. 


ANDKEW    FENN. 


Andrew  Fenn  was  born  in  the  old  house  which  is  now  oc- 
cupied by  Erastus  Fenn,  near  the  upper  lock  factory.  This  house 
was  built  by  Jacob  Fenn  in  i78i,and  the  land  in  that  section 
(now  covered  with  houses)  was  farmed  by  both  Jacob  and  An- 
drew Fenn.  Mr.  Fenn  followed  farming  for  a  great  many  years, 
but  during  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  was  engaged  in  making 
boxes  for  the  Eagle  Lock  Company.  He  married  Miss  Rhoda 
Warner  of  Plymouth  in  18171  bv  whom  he  had  the  following 
sons:  Hiram,  born  July,  191S;  Apollos,  born  1820,  died  in 
Hartford  in  1893;  Stephen,  born  1823;  Erastus,  born  1829. 
Andrew  Fenn  died  December  15,  1867,  aged  seventy  years. 

CAPTAIN    AAKON   FENN. 

Captain  Aaron  Fenn,  born  in  IMilford,  a  great  grandson  of 
Benjamin  Fe.n,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Milford  in  1639,  came 
to  Northl)ury  Society  about  the  year  1767,  and  settled  on  a  tract 
of  land,  about  one  mile  north  of  the  meeting  house,  willed  to 
him  by  his  grandfather  James,  who  was  one  of  the  early  proprie- 
tors of  VVaterbury  lands.  A  portion  of  this  tract  is  now  owned 
and  cultivated  by  his  descendents,  Aaron  Peck  Fenn,  and  the 
heirs  of  William  B.  Fenn.  Captain  Aaron  married  Mary 
Bradley  of  Woodbridge.  They  have  seven  children,  Lyman, 
Sally,  Aaron,  Jr.,  Erastus,  Polly,  David  and  Jeremiah. 

Lyman  married  Lydia  Baldwin.  They  had  seven  children, 
Aaron,  Thaddeus,  Timothy,  Albert,  Polly,  Thankful  and  Persis. 

Sally  married  Deacon  David  Dunbar.  They  had  two  chil- 
dren. Deacon  Ferrand  and  Eliza. 

Aaron,  Jr.,  married  Sabra  Fenn,  daughter  of  Isaac.  They 
had  six  children,  Isaac,  Burr,  Abijah,  Rosetta,  Nancy  Rexford 
and  William  Bennett. 

Erastus  married  Amanda  Goodwin.  They  had  six  chil- 
dren, ISIary,  Polly,  Elizur,  Julia,  John  Lester  and  Emily. 

Polly  died  unmarried. 

David  married  Persis,  daughter  of  Lake  Potter.  They  had 
five  children,  Julius,  Elam  Potter,  Miranda,  Juliette  and  Mary. 


4iS 


HISTORY    OP'    PLYMOUTH. 


Andrew  Fenn  Homtstead 


Mrs   Benjamin  K.  Fenn. 


}!IOGUAPIIICAI,    SKETCHES.  419 

Jereiniah  married  Polly  Peck  of  Woodbritlge.  They  had 
three  chiklren,  Aaron  Peck,  Stephen  and  Horace. 

The  only  grandchildren  ol"  Captain  Aaron  Fenn  who  are 
now  living  are,  Eli/.ur  and  John  Lester  Fenn,  and  Mrs.  Emily 
(Lyman  D.)  Baldwin,'  all  children  of  Erastus ;  Abijah,  son  of 
Aaron,  Jr.  ;  Elam  Potter  Fenn,  Mrs,  Mary  Paine,  children  of 
Davitl ;    Aaron   Peck  and  Horace  Fenn,  children  of  Jeiemiah. 

SAMUEL    FENN. 

Samuel  Fenn,  a  brother  of  Captain  Aaron,  came  to  North- 
bury  Society  about  the  year  1767  and  settled  on  another  portion 
of  land  willed  to  him  by  his  grandfather,  James,  located  on  the 
hill  east  of  Jericho  Falls  on  the  Naugatuck  liver,  now  in  the 
limits  of  Thomaston  and  owned  by  Roderick  Canfield.  Samuel 
married  Irene  Sanford,  and  there  were  four  generations  of  Sam- 
uel to  Samuel  ^th.  A  remnant  of  this  family  are  supposed  to 
be  living  in  Michigan. 

jViajor  Samuel  Fenn,  anothei  lineal  descendant  of  Ben- 
jamin Fenn,  came  from  Milford  to  Plymouth  in  1806  or  1S07, 
with  his  two  sons,  Captain  Samuel  and  Benjamin,  and  one 
daughter,  Cordelia.  He  purchased  farms  in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  town,  lately  owned  and  occupied  by  Mr.  Winslow  and  Elias 
Smith.  The  writer  could  not  ascertain  that  any  lineal  descend- 
ant of  Major  Samuel  is  now  living  in  Plymouth.  Of  the  chil- 
dren of  Benjamin  Fenn  there  are  two  living,  Mrs.  Amzi  Warner 
of  Cheshire  and  Mrs.  Charles  Hayes  of  New  Haven.  The 
three  sons,  Benjamin,  Lot  and  Lyman,  are  dead,  and  with  them 
have  also  passed  away  the  two  sons  of  Lyman,  leaving  no 
descendants  to  perpetuate  this  branch  of  the  Fenn  family.  Two 
other  daughters  were  Catherine  and  Julia,  the  former  being 
married  to  Henry  Atwater,  and  the  latter  to  Newton  P.  Whit- 
tlesev,  all  of  whom  are  dead. 


420 


HIsrOUV    OF    ri.VMOUTH. 


r 


i^f$    flir* 


L.  H.  PlouCQuet,  Master,  Pl\  mouth  Grange 


General  SeJ"\vick. 


CHAPTER     XIV, 


SOClF.l  I  KS. 


Plymouth  Grange,  No,  72,  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  Organized  December  7,  1877— 
Sedgwick  Council,  No.  21,  0.  U.  A.  M.,  Instituted  March  16,  1887— Court  Nut- 
meg, No.  1404,  Chartered  October  20.  1893— The  Terryville  Cemetery,  with 
Views  from  Several  Points. 

PLYAJOUTH  Grange,  No.  73,  is  one  of  the  subordinate  organi- 
zations of  the  great  order  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  and  was 
organized  in  Plymouth  Center,  December  7,  1SS7,  with  twenty- 
three  charter  members,  the  first  meeting  being  held  in  the  lecture 
room.  Wallace  E.  Dayton  was  chosen  master,  Airs.  B.  II.  Sut- 
liff,  lecturer,  and  Ard  VVelton,  secretar\-.  The  grange  was 
instituted  for  the  express  purpose  oi'  educating  and  elevating 
those  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits,  and  is,  therefore,  a  farm- 
ers' organization,  composed  of  farmers,  their  wives,  and  children 
over  fourteen  years  old,  although  there  are  some  exceptions  to 
the  rule  ;  doctors,  ministers  and  school  teachers  are  also  eligible. 
From  this  beginning  the  grange  has  had  a  steady  growth  until  it 
now  numbers  106  members,  including  nearly  all  the  leading 
farmers  of  the  town.  L.  H.  Ploucquet  is  the  recognized  head  of 
the  grange,  at  present,  he  having  been  elected  master  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  year.  His  picture  accompanies  this  sketch.  The 
grange  now  own  the  building  on  Main  street  next  to  the  post 
office,  in  Plymouth  Center,  and  have  a  well  furnished  hall  where 
meetings  are  held  every  alternate  Wednesday  evening.  One 
prominent  feature  at  each  meeting  is  the  "lecturer's  hour." 
This  is  composed  of  select  readings,  essays,  and  discussions  on 
farm  topics,  recitations,  music  and  debates.  In  fact,  anything 
that  pertains  to  the  household  or  the  farm.  This  gives  the  farm- 
er and  his  family  an  opportunity  for  social  intercourse  and  intel- 
lectual improvement,  which,  owing  to  their  isolated  vocation, 
were  it  not  for  the  grange,  they  would  be  deprived  of.  "  In 
essentials  unity,  in  non-essentials  liberty,  in  all  things  charity," 
is  one  of  the  underhing  principles  of  the  order. 

SEDGWICK    COUNCIL,    O.    U.   A.   M. 

Sedgwick  Council,  No.  21,  O.  U.  A.  AL,   was  instituted  in 
Terryville  by  the  State  Council,  March    16,    18S7,   with  the  fol- 


422 


inSTORV    OF    PLYMOU'IH. 


L    W.  Bfldtn,  Chief  Ranger. 


Terr>ville  Cemetery-   View  from  Southeast  Corner. 


SOCIETIES.  423 


lowing  charter  members :  John  R.  Andrew,  David  H.  Scrim- 
geour,  Richard  Baldwin,  A.  B.  Clark,  F.  G.  Bryan,  R.  S. 
Blakeslee,  J.  Alexander  Russell,  G.  A.  Scott,  A.  B.  lieach,  F. 
W.  Rossetter,  W.  Bemis,  A.  W.  Ingraham,  James  P.  Davis, 
Edgar  L.  Pond,  Charles  \V.  Judson,  Henry  A.  Randall,  J.  M. 
Gilbert,  R.  J.  Plumb,  A.  C.  Wedge,  J.  A.  Ihadshaw,  E.  C. 
Goodwin,  H.  T.  Wheeler,  G.  N.  Waterbury,  Jr.,  W.  B.  Ells, 
Charles  J.  Lang,  F.  B.  Rising,  W.  L.  Norton,  George  N. 
Waterbury,  J.  K.  Eggleston,  W.  T.  Goodwin,  A.  C.  Holcomb, 
Daniel  Kelley,  J.  H.  Haase,  W.  P.  Swett,  M.  D.,  W.  E.  Judd, 
G.  Howard  Ilamilton,  George  Von  Tobel. 

This  council  was  the  hrst  organized  in  Litchfield  county. 
It  was  also  the  first  to  present  the  public  schools  with  American 
flags.  The  present  membershij)  niunbers  about  sixty,  one  of  the 
charter  members,  E.  L.  Pond,  having  served  as  slate  councilor. 
The  council  meets  every  Wednesday  evening  in  a  room,  which 
has  been  fitted  up  lor  it,  in  the  Lewis  &  Gaylord  shop,  which  is 
the  same  room  that  one  of  its  charter  members,  Major  Ells,  was 
working  in  when  he  was  called  upon  to  serve  his  country  in  the 
late  war.  The  present  officers  are:  D.  W.  Eggleston,  coun- 
cilor; F.  A.  Bunnell,  vice-councilor;  E.  Clayton  Goodwin, 
recording  secretary  ;  Isaac  B.  Clark,  assistant  recording  secre- 
tary;  A.  B.  Beach,  treasurer;  C.  E.  Chai)man,  ir.ductor;  A.  F. 
Peck,  examiner:  George  F.  Hart,  inside  protector:  Albert 
Bates,  outside  protector  ;  William  C.  Bates,  junior  ex-councilor  ; 
Piatt  R.  Jacquavs,  senior  ex-councilor;  E.  L.  Pond,  William 
L.  Norton,  A.  C.  Bunnell,  trustees. 


THE    FORESTEIJS. 

The  Independent  Order  of  Foresters  is  of  American  origin, 
was  reorganized  in  Canada,  and  now  returns  to  its  native  soil  in 
concord,  benevolence  and  liberty.  Court  Nutmeg,  No.  1404, 
was  instituted  in  Plymouth,  Conn.,  from  the  supreme  court  by 
Dr.  A.  P.  Forbes  Gammack  acting  as  court  deputy  supreme 
chief  ranger,  and  is  the  premier  court  of  the  order  in  Connecti- 
cut. The  charter,  dated  October  20,  1S93,  was  granted  by  the 
supi'eme  court  to  these  officers,  their  associates  and  their  succes- 
sors in  office:  M.  W.  Leach,  court  deputy  high  chief  ranger; 
W.  C.  Dayton,  chief  ranger;  B.  D.  Holt,  vice  chief  ranger; 
J.  W.  Gammack,  financial  secretary;  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Gammack, 
chaplain;  L.  W.  Belden,  senior  woodward;  J.  C.  Smith, 
senior  beadle  ;  A.  Welton,  past  chief  ranger ;  Joseph  Williams, 
recording  secretarv  ;  W.  B.  Tuttle,  treasurer;  J.  W.Johnson, 
ISI.  D.,  phvsician  ;  F.  C.  Brazee,  junior  woodward,  and  G.  H. 
Chapman,  junior  beadle.  The  object  before  the  Independent 
Foresters  is  to  promote  the  social,  intellectual  and  moral  welfare 
of  the  members,  and  to  secure  by  small  payments,  the  funds 
required  for  sick  and  funeral  benefits,  and  also  for  payment  of 
insurance  at  death  or  at  the  earlier  expectation  of  life.  The 
present  chief  ranger  of  the  court  is  L.  W.  Belden. 


424 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Soldiers' 
\       Monument. 


View  from 
Northeast 
Corner. 


- 

? — ^~?^^M 

^ 

M 

■^  • 

.*     Ayi 

i^9 

i 

K 

New  Addition  to 
Westward. 


SOCIETIES. 


425 


IIII.I-SIDE    CEiMETEKV,    TEKKVX'II.I.E. 

In  March,  1863,  there  were  two  and  three-fourths  acres  of 
land  bought  from  Mrs.  Mary  W.  Lewis,  situated  on  North  Main 
street,  to  be  laid  out  and  used  for  a  new  cemetery,  and,  at  that 
time,  it  was  voted  that  a  special  standing  committee  of  three 
persons  be  appointed  to  make  a  survey  and  plan  for  the  new 
burial  ground  of  Terryville,  and  to  lay  the  same  in  lots  of  suit- 
able size  for  iamily  plots,  and  to  have  full  power  to  sell  and  to 
execute  proper  deeds  of  conveyance  of  the  same  to  the  purchasers 
thereof,  and  that  the  proceeds  of  sale  be  appropriated  by  said 
committee  to  the  improvement  and  embellishment  of  said  ground, 
provided  that  only  two- thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  said  lots 
be  sold ;  also  that  said  committee  shall  have  the  general  super- 
vision and  direction  of  that  portion  of  the  ground  which  may 
remain  unsold  ;  and  it  is  further  voted,  that  the  signature  of  one 
of  said  committee  only  be  necessary  for  the  conveyance  of  the 
aforesaid  lots.  The  committee  chosen  at  that  time  was  J.  H. 
Adams,  James  Terry  and  E.  L.  Gaylord.  An  addition  was 
made  to  the  site  May  10,  1S90,  by  purchasing  four  acres  from 
George  Plumb,  and  the  strip  of  land  donated  by  Richard  Bald- 
win, which  straightened  out  the  road  running  east  and  west. 
The  present  committee  are:  E.  S.  Beach,  president  and  man- 
ager; fonathan  Starr,  secretary  and  treasurer,  and  Edgar  L. 
Pond.  ' 


\  uw  lit  Center  of  Cemetery. 


SKETCH 


PLYMOUTH,  OHIO 


<- 


Originally  Settled  by  Families 


FROM   PLYMOUTH,    CONN. 


-^ 


Re-union   of   Descendants,  now    Numbering 
about  400,  June  25,  189^. 

WHO  THE  PIONEERS  WERE. 


CHAPTER     X  V 


PI,VMOUTH,    OHIO. 


Offshoot  of  Its  Namesake  in  Connecticut  and  the  First  Episcopal  Parish  in  the 
State  of  Ohio— Descendants  oi  These  Early  Settlers,  Numbering  Four  Hun- 
dred or  More.  Organize  Themselves  as  the  "Mann,  Blakeslee  and  Seymour 
Re-union  Association." 

A  GLANCE  at  the  map  of  Ohio,  will  convince  any  one,  that  the  early 
settlers  of  that  state  were  an  unusally  loyal,  patriotic  body  of  men. 
The  larger  number  of  counties  are  named  directly  after  the  heroes  of 
the  Revolution,  in  grateful  remembrance  of  their  noble  self-sacrificing 
labors.  The  first  settlement  in  Ohio  was  named  Washington,  and  the 
county  seat  called  Mariette,  in  honor  of  Marie  Antcnnette,  the  beautiful 
Queen  of  France.  Among  the  prominent  counties  are  Jefferson,  I\Iadi- 
son,  Hamilton,  Fayette,  Carroll,  Hancock,  Jackson,  Greene,  Knox, 
Lawrence,  Wayne,  Stark,  Adams,  Warren,  Henr\',  and  others,  all 
names  recorded  in  history,  and  held  in  sincere  regard  by  every  lover  of 
his  countr3\ 

The  Western  Reserve,  comprising  about  325,000,000  acres,  was  sold 
by  the  State  of  Connecticut,  to  a  syndicate  of  her  sons,  for  a  sum  about 
equal  to  the  cost  of  building  the  viaduct  across  the  Cuyahoga  River  at 
Cleveland.  The  early  settlers  of  New  Connecticut,  as  the  Reserve  was 
called,  were  nearly  all  New  England  men  and  women,  bred  to  labor, 
economical,  frugal,  industrious,  patient,  intelligent,  God  fearing,  believ- 
ing in  schools,  colleges,  churches,  and  liberty  protected  by  law.  The 
growth  of  the  Reserve  was  slow,  until  after  the  war  of  1S12,  when  it 
became  the  homes  of  tens  of  thousands  of  emigrants.  The  character  of 
the  early  settlers  gave  promise  of  a  secure  future  for  the  new  colony, 
which  time  has  fully  redeemed.  It  is  probably  true,  beyond  question, 
that  at  this  moment,  the  Western  Reserve,  for  its  extent  and  population, 
is  not  surpassed  in  any  country,  for  the  thrift,  general  prosperity,  jniblic 
and  private  morality,  and  high  standard  of  education  of  its  people.  In 
1S06,  the  Reserve  contained  about  six  thousand  souls,  and  was  divided 
into  two  counties.  In  1S95,  it  had  ten  counties,  and  nearly  a  million 
inhabitants. 

In  1S11-12,  several  families  went  from  Plymouth,  Conn.,  and  settled 
in  South  Ashtabula.  The  name  of  the  township  was  soon  after  changed 
to  Plymouth,  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  the  original  settlers. 
Nearly  all  the  early  emigrants  were  Episcopalians,  and  their  first  wor- 


430 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH 


ship  was  by  lay-reading,  led  by  Zadoe  Mann,  who  presided,  until  the 
arrival  of  Rev.  Roger  Searle,  their  former  minister  in  Plymouth,  who 
held  service  in  the  house  of  Hal  Smith  first,  on  February  19,  18 17,  and 
immediately  followed  the  organization  of  "The  Parish  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Ashtabula,"  the  first  Episcopal  denomination  in  the  State  of 
Ohio.  Mr.  Searle  named  the  parish  after  the  one  he  had  formerly  pre- 
sided over  in  Plymouth. 

As  near  as  can  be  learned,  at  this  late  date,  the  families  that  went 
from  Plymouth,  Conn.,  were  those  of  Zadoc  Mann,  Warner  Mann,  John 
Blakeslee,  Asher  Blakeslee,  Lynus  Hall,  Titus  Seymour,  Dr.  David 
Warner  and  Elias  Cook  Upson.     There  were,  doubtless,  others. 

Originally,  Plymouth  Township  was  included  in  the  limits  of  Ash- 
tabula, and  it  was  not  until  January  7,  1838,  that  the  territory  was,  by 
order  of  the  County  Commissioners,  detached  from  that  township,  and 
created  a  new  one,  to  be  known  as  Township  No.  12,  of  the  third  range. 


St.  Matthew's  Church. 


On  July  4,  1S3S,  the  township  was  regularly  organized  and  these 
officers  elected :  Samuel  Burnet,  Andrew  Wiley  and  William  Stewart, 
trustees;  Levi  P.  Blakeslee,  township  clerk ;  Bennet  vSeymour,  treasurer; 
Elias  Cook  Upson  and  William  Foster,  overseers  of  poor;  Joseph  Mann, 
James  Hall  and  Solomon  A.  Simons,  fence  viewers ;  Bennet  Seymour, 
Solomon  A.  Simons,  Elias  C.  Upson  and  Merritt  M.  Mann,  supervisors. 
The  first  Justice  of  the  Peace,  was  Warner  Mann,  who  was  elected  on 
the  gth  day  of  November,  1838,  his  commission  bearing  date  November 
26,  1838.  This  election  was  held  at  the  house  of  the  justice  elect. 
Warner  Mann  was  succeeded  by  Josiah  Allen,  and  he,  by  Wells  Blakes- 
lee. Previous  to  the  expiration  of  Warner  Mann's  commission,  how- 
ever, a  second  justice  was  ordered  for  the  township,  and  Daniel  Hub- 
bard was  the  first  to  fill  the  office.  Levi  P.  Blakeslee  succeeded  him, 
and  was  in  turn  succeeded  by  Samuel  Burnet. 

The  township  was  originally  owned  by  Nehemiah  Hubbard,  of 
Middletown,  Middlesex  County,  Conn.,  Hon.  Matthew  Hubbard,  who 
located  in  Ashtabula  in  1804,  being  agent  for  the  proprietor. 


PLVMOurii,   OHIO.  431 

The  first  scttlLMiicnt,  witliin  tlie  present  limits  oi  the  township, 
were  as  follows:  In  1S04  or  1S05,  Wm.  Thompson  and  Thomas  Mc- 
Gahhe,  with  their  families,  located  on  lot  number  five.  In  the  spring 
of  1806,  Samuel  White  began  improvements  on  two  hundred  acres,  upon 
the  north  line  of  the  township.  Fitz's  woolen  factory  was  subsequently- 
established  on  this  lot,  which  was  later  owned  by  Ezra  Bunnell.  David 
Burnet  settled  on  lot  number  twelve,  also  in  the  spring  of  1806.  This 
lot  was  afterwards  owned  by  Wells  Blakeslee ;  then  Oliver  Gary  became 
occupant.  Both  White  and  Burnet  came  from  Hubbard,  Trumbull 
County.  In  1S07,  Thomas  Gordon  purchased  two  hundred  and  forty 
acres,  in  lot  number  six,  and  in  the  spring  of  1808,  took  possession  of 
the  same  with  his  family.  William  Foster,  of  Sacket's  Harbor,  New 
York,  arrived  in  the  township  in  iSio,  locating  on  lot  number  ten.  His 
mode  of  transit  was  by  a  small  boat  to  Ashtabula;  at  Niagara  Falls,  he 
hired  a  team  to  haul  his  boat  some  seven  miles  around  the  falls.  Cap- 
tain Moses  Hall  emigrated  from  Connecticut  in  iSii,  and  began  the  life 
of  a  pioneer  on  the  northwest  corner  lot. 

The  first  log  house  was  erected  in  1S04  or  1S05,  on  lot  number  five, 
by  William  Thompson,  the  oldest  inhabitant,  who  removed  from  the 
township  in  1807.  The  first  orchard  was  planted  by  Samuel  White, 
in  the  spring  of  1S07.  It  was  located  on  his  farm,  near  the  pond,  and 
consisted  of  forty  trees.  They  first  bore  fruit  in  iSii,  which  was,  with- 
out doubt,  the  first  produced  within  the  territory  composing  the  town- 
ships of  Plymouth  and  Ashtabula.  Capt.  Moses  Hall  was  the  owner  of 
the  orchard  at  this  time,  and  it  is  said  he  distributed  nearly  the  entire 
yield  of  the  orchard,  among  the  sick  of  the  township. 

Upon  the  first  settlement  of  the  Plymouth  pioneers,  the  only  road 
was  the  "girdled"  one,  laid  out  by  the  Connecticut  Land  Company, 
running  from  Kelloggsville,  via  Shefiield,  through  Plymouth,  and  west 
through  Saybrook,  Austinburg,  etc. ,  terminating  at  or  near  Cleveland. 
The  first  road  authorized  by  the  county  commissioners,  after  Plymouth 
became  a  separate  township,  was  in  June,  1842,  which  began  on  the 
Jefferson  and  Ashtabula  road,  at  William  Willard's  northwest  corner, 
thence  east  on  lot  lines  to  Denmark  road.  IMarch,  1S44,  another  road 
was  surveyed,  running  from  William  Stewart's,  northeast  and  north,  to 
the  road  south  of  Amos  Moses,  in  Kingsville.  March,  1S50,  the  last  one 
was  established  from  the  southwest  corner  of  the  township,  north  to  the 
turnpike,  and  from  the  west  line  of  the  township,  at  the  northwest  corner 
of  lot  number  eighty,  easterly  to  the  plank  road. 

Much  of  the  western  portion  of  the  township  is  of  high  rolling 
ground,  w-hile  in  the  southern  part  extensive  marshes  prevail,  the  larg- 
est of  which  is  some  three  miles  in  length,  and  averaging,  perhaps, 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  wndth ;  its  waters,  flowing  westerly,  are  dis- 
charged into  Grand  River,  in  Austinburg.  South  of  the  "big  marsh," 
lie  two  smaller  ones,  which  are  separated  by  a  natural  roadway,  over 
which  the  mail  was  carried  to  Jefferson,  until  the  opening  of  the  Frank- 
lin division  of  the  Lake  Shore  Railroad.  The  waters  of  these  two 
marshes  flow,  one  easterh',  into  Ashtabula  Creek,  the  other  westerly, 
into  Grand  River. 

The  streams,  aside  from  Ashtabula  Creek,  which  forms  a  portion 
of  the  northern  boundary  of  the  township,   arc  Hubbard's  Run,  which 


432 


HISTORY    OF'    PLYMOUTH. 


rises  principally  from  springs  in  Saj^brook,  and  forms  another  part  of 
the  northern  boundary,  uniting  with  Ashtabula  Creek,  about  one  mile 
southeast  of  the  village  of  Ashtabula  (known  as  the  West  Gulf).  wSmith 
Creek,  which  heads  in  the  southern  part  of  the  township,  runs  easterly, 
uniting  with  the  waters  of  "  Little  Marsh,"  and  finally  reaches  Ashta- 
bula Creek  in  Sheffield. 

The  first  marriage  occurred  in  iSio,  at  the  residence  of  Captain 
Manoah  Hubbard,  the  contracting  jDarties  being  his  daughter,  Miss 
Julia,  and  Walker  Richmond,  of  New  York.  The  first  white  child 
born  in  Plymouth,  was  a  son  to  David  Burnet,  in  1S07,  and  the  first 
death  was,  without  doubt,  a  jwidow  lady  named  Hanan,  who  died  in 
the  spring  of  1807.  The  first  school  house  was  built  in  the  summer  of 
iSio.  It  was  of  logs,  and  .stood  in  the  "hollow,"  a  short  distance  south 
of  the  present  cemetery,  on  the  farm  formerly  owned  by  Asher  Blakes- 
lee,  and  the  first  school  taught  therein,   was  in  the   succeeding  winter. 


St.  Matthew's  Church  Parsonage. 


by  Warner  Mann.  There  were  twelve  scholars  in  attendance,  the  par- 
ents paying  each  his  share  of  the  teacher's  salary,  which  was,  un- 
doubtedly, a  trifling  sum.  The  first  saw  mill  was  erected  in  1S09,  by 
Thomas  Gordon,  on  the  site  where,  afterwards,  was  located  a  woolen 
mill.  In  the  spring  of  1S31,  Emmerson  Gibbs  put  in  operation,  a  card- 
ing machine,  and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  cloth-dressing  machinery. 
The  next  season,  a  mill  for  grinding  corn,  was  placed  in  the  same 
building.  In  1S39  this  site  was  purchased  by  Messrs.  Hubbel  and  Ken- 
ney,  and  a  woolen  factory,  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  spindles,  estab- 
lished. This  was  destroyed  by  fire  on  the  night  of  December  24,  1S47. 
The  first  frame  house  was  built  by  Captain  Moses  Hall,  on  the  north- 
west corner  lot,  and  the  first  frame  school  house  was  erected  in  the 
spring  of  1817,  by  subscription;  its  location  was  some  three  quarters  of 
a  mile  north  of  the  Center  (known  as  the  Chapel). 

The  first  church  organization,  was  that  of  tlie  Episcopal  denomina- 
tion.     However,  services  were  held  by  all  denominations,  from  the  time 


IM.ViMOU  Til,     OHIO.  433 

of  the  first  settlements,  at  the  houses  of  the  settlers,  and  at  the  frame 
sehool  house,  or  ehapel,  mentioned  above.  There  are  now  two  fine 
church  edifices  in  the  township:  St.  Mathew's  Episcopal,  which  is 
located  some  lialf  mile  east  of  the  Center,  erected  in  1841,  and  the 
^Methodist  at  the  Center,  which  was  not  finished  till,  perhaps,  1S74.  The 
first  post  office,  and,  in  fact,  the  only  one  in  the  township,  was  estab- 
lished June  16,  1846.  William  Warner  Mann  was  the  first  postmaster, 
serving  twelve  years.  The  first  store  was  established  in  1849,  by  Wil- 
liam W.  Mann,  in  a  building,  then  standing  between  the  school  house 
and  the  residence  of  Charles  Wright.  Mr.  IVfann  continued  in  business 
some  ten  years  in  Plymouth,  removing  first  to  East  Ashtabula,  where 
he  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business,  for  two  years  more,  and  then 
moved  to  the  corner  of  Center  and  Park  streets,  A.shtabula.  In  1824, 
and  for  the  five  years  subsequently,  he  was  engaged  as  mail-boy  for  the 
"Recorder,"  published  in  Ashtabula,  which  paper  was,  probably,  the 
first  one  published  in  Ashtabula  county.  Peter  LaGrange  also  con- 
ducted a  store  in  Plymouth  for  some  years.  Plymouth  has  been  largely 
devoted  to  the  manufacture  of  butter  and  cheese,  principally  by  indiv- 
iduals. 

During  the  Rebellion,  Plymouth  sent  many  of  her  brave  .sons  to  the 
front  in  support  of  the  flag  and  defense  of  the  integrity  of  the  nation, 
having  representatives  in  the  "  Glorious  old  Twenty-ninth  Ohio  Volun- 
teer Infantry,"  the  "  One  Hundred  and  Fifth,"  the  "  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-fifth,"  "  Eleventh  New  York  Battery,"  and  other  organizations. 
They  gave  to  their  vState  and  the  Union,  their  bravest  efforts,  and  much 
of  their  best  blood. 

]\Iuch  of  the  above  information  has  been  copied  from  the  History  of 
Ashtabula  County,  and  the  author  is  also  greatly  indebted  to  i\Irs.  Ellen 
S.  Lockw^ood  for  other  facts  presented  in  this  sketch.  Of  her  own 
family  Mrs.  Lockwood  writes  as  follows: 

"  In  Plymouth,  Ohio,  is  a  house,  the  frame  of  which  was  raised 
May  iS,  1S19,  the  day  on  which  my  father  was  born,  the  stakes  for  the 
corners  being  set  by  moonlight  by  the  north  star,  so  that  it  might  be 
"  square  with  the  world."  It  was  built  by  Warner  Mann,  my  grand- 
father, who  moved  his  family  into  it  the  same  fall.  My  father.  Beilby 
Porteus  Mann,  was  born  in  a  log  house  opposite  to  it.  Warner  Mann 
lived  in  this  house  about  thirteen  years,  when  Elias  Cook  Upson  took 
possession  of  it.  Mr.  Upson  was  my  mother's  father.  My  mother  was 
born  in  Plymouth,  Conn.,  March  3,  1825,  and  here  I  was  born,  October 
17,  1S45.  My  grandmother  died  July  21,  i860,  and  my  grandfather  in 
March,  1S79.  The  old  house  is  still  owned  lay  my  parents  and  is  in  a 
good  state  of  preservation,  the  frame  apparently  as  good  as  ever.  My 
parents  celebrated  their  golden  wedding  May  19,  1892." 

Mrs.  Hannah  Maria  Graham  McNutt,  who  now  keeps  the  post 
office,  relates,  that  in  1S20,  Harr}^  Graham  and  wife,  and  one  child, 
came  to  Plymouth,  Ohio.  Mrs.  Graham's  name  was  Elizabeth  Miller, 
from  New  York  State.  Mr.  Graham  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  and  went 
to  Canada.  They  both  came  to  Ashtabula  at  the  same  time,  before  they 
were  married,  in  a  boat  owned  by  him,  and  located  in  Plymouth  in 
iSiS,  two  miles  from  anj'  inhabitants,  in  the  woods,  on  the  same  ground 
that  is  now  occupied  as  a  station,  on  the  Jamestown  and  Franklin  Div- 


434 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


ision  of  the  Lake  Shore  Raih-oad.  All  the  goods  they  had  were  drawn 
in  on  a  hand  sled.  He  paj-ed  for  his  farm  by  clearing  two  acres  for  one, 
and  had  the  first  crop  of  wheat.  Zadoc  Mann,  owned  goo  acres 
of  land  here,  heavily  timbered,  which  he  bought  for  twenty-five  cents 
an  acre.  He  gave  each  of  his  children  a  farm,  gave  ground  for  a 
church  lot  and  sold  the  balance  in  that  way.  All  the  music  they  had  in 
those  days,  was  the  howling  of  the  wolves,  and  the  mother's  cradle 
song.  They  fed  the  wild  turkeys,  by  raising  the  back  window  and 
throwing  out  corn.  Mrs.  McNutt,  to-day,  cooks  dinner  in  the  same 
kettle  that  her  father  and  mother  brought  from  Canada,  in  the  boat 
with  them,  in  iSiS. 

Of  the  original  settlers  from  plymouth.  Conn.,  or  their  descendants, 
the  following  notices  have  been  copied : 

William  Warner,  son  of  Warner  Mann,  born  in  Ashtabula,  Ohio. 
June  22,  1813,  died  May  24,  1880.     Grand.son  of  Zadoc. 

Elias  Cook  Upson,  born  in  Waterbury,  Conn.,  Dec.  16,  1797;  mar- 
ried Orra,  daughter  of  Bella  Blakeslee,   March  31,   1824;  died  March, 


Plymouth  School. 


1S79.  He  was  a  Mason  over  fifty-four  years,  and  took  charge  of  the 
church  over  forty  years,  without  pay. 

Meret  L.  Satterlee,  son  of  Clara  Blakeslee  Satterlee,  born  in  Con- 
necticut, went  to  Chicago  in  1836,  died  January  28,  1894. 

Died  in  Plymouth,  Ohio,  Sept.  10,  1894 — Mrs.  Clara  Casady,  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  Stephen  and  Amanda  Mann,  and  granddaughter  of  Jos- 
eph Mann,  wife  of  Charles  Casady,  aged  forty-four  years. 

In  Ashtabula,  nth  inst.  (year  unknown),  Henr>-  J^cie  Blakeslee 
Seymour,  son  of  Titus  Seymour,  aged  seventy-three  years. 

Hon.  Andrew  W.  Mann,  son  of  Warner  Mann  (by  last  wife),  born 
in  Plymouth,  Ohio,  September  4,  1845,  and  died  at  his  home,  in  Burr 
Oak,  Kansas,  May  9,  1890.  He  was  a  member  of  Company  C.  29th 
Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  was  transferred  from  the  Army  to  the 
Navy  in  1S64;  served  nine  months  on  the  monitor,  Winnebago,  and 
three  months  on  the  Circassian. 


PLYMOUTH,    OHIO.  435 

Robert  vSeymour  died  Mareli  25,  1S75,  aged  eighty  years.  Melissa, 
his  wife,  died  February  i,  1S63,  aged  seventy-four  years. 

Asher  Blakesleee  died  June  4,  1831,  aged  sixty  years.  Charlotte, 
his  wife,  died  May  13,  iSiS,  in  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  her  age. 

Collins  Wetmore  died  July  14,  1S59,  aged  seventy-two  years.  Maria 
Wetmore  died  December  15,  1880,  aged  eighty-four  years  and  six  days. 

Amanda  Mann  died  August  30,  1S53,  aged  sixtj'-four  years. 

Zadoc  Mann  died  September  29,  1846,  aged  eighty-seven  years. 
Hannah,  his  wife,  died  January  21,  1846,  aged  sevent\--six  j-ears. 
Esther,  his  first  wife,  died  July  g,  1825,  aged  sixty-six  years. 

Clara  Blakeslee  Satterlee  died  April  30,  1874,  aged  eighty-two  years. 

Warner  Mann,  born  February  16,  17S4,  died  May  27,  1858. 

Died  in  Plymouth,  Ohio,  May  15,  1892,  Mrs.  Amanda  Mann,  the 
widow  of  the  late  Stephen  Mann  (son  of  Joseph),  and  daughter  of  Mrs. 
Clara  Blakeslee  Satterlee,  aged  seventy-one  years,  two  months  and 
nineteen  days. 

In  Plymouth,  Ohio,  loth  inst.,  Mrs.  vSophia  G.  Mann,  second  widow 
of  Joseph  Mann,  aged  ninety-six  years. 

Died  at  McGregor,  Iowa,  July  19,  1SS3,  Mrs.  Amanda  Mann  ]\Iat- 
thews,  wife  of  Isaac  Matthews,  and  daughter  Warner  Mann.  She  died 
on  her  fifty-sixth  birthday. 

Died  in  Ashtabula  20th  inst.,  of  paralysis,  Frances  A.,  widow  of 
Garwood  Blakeslee,  aged  6g  years. 

In  Plymouth,  O.,  February  20,  Mrs.  Olive  Lewis,  widow  of  Wm. 
Lewis,  and  daughter  of  Bela  Blake.slee,  aged  eighty-one  j-ears.  i\Irs. 
Lewis  was  born  in  Plymouth,  Conn.,  March  13,  1801. 

John  G.  Blakeslee  died  September  29,  1S28,  aged  thirty-nine  years. 
Esther  R.,  his  wife,  died  August  20,  1S65,  aged  seventy-five  years. 
Emigrated  from  Plymouth,  Conn.,  in  1S13. 

In  Plymouth,  O.,  October  11,  1865,  Lucy  C. ,  wife  of  Darius  Van 
Slyke,  and  daughter  of  Elias  Cook  L^pson,  aged  twenty-nine  years ;  also 
on  the  rsth  inst.,  an  infant  daughter,  aged  nine  daj-s. 

In  Plymouth,  O.,  September  30,  1S62,  Chauncej-  Blakeslee,  son  of 
John  Blakeslee,  aged  thirty-nine  years.  Died  in  Plymouth  O.,  Decem- 
ber 23,  1880,  Mrs.  Lucy  Blakeslee  Ross,  a  daughter  of  John  Blakeslee, 
aged  about  sixty-five  years,  widow  of  the  late  Felix  Ross. 

Died  in  East  Ashtabula,  December  15,  iSSo,  Maria  Mann,  daughter 
of  Zadoc  Mann,  and  relict  of  the  late  Collins  Wetmore,  aged  eighty -four 
years. 

In  East  Ashtabula,  O.,  May  30,  iSSo,  Minerva,  wife  of  Collins  E. 
Mann  (son  of  Joseph),  aged  fifty-seven  years. 

In  Ashtabula,  O.,  October  i,  iSSo,  Mrs.  Rebecca  F.  Mann,  the  late 
relict  of  Wm.  Warner  Mann,  aged  seventy-one  years  and  six  months. 

In  Plymouth,  O.,  February  4,  18S4,  Mrs.  Lucy  C.  Mann,  wife  of 
Hiram  E.  Mann,  aged  sixty-seven  years  (formerly  Lucy  C.  Judd  of 
Connecticut. ) 

Died  in  Lenox,  O.,  February  13,  18S6,  Mrs.  Helen  Harper  Graham, 
granddaughter  of  Joseph  Mann,  and  wife  of  Joseph  Graham. 

Died  at  Independence,  Iowa,  October  6,  1S95,  Mr.  Cassius  Mann 
Matthews,  only  son  of  Isaac  and  the  late  Amanda  INIann  Matthews,  aged 
fifty-one  j'ears. 


436 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Died  in  Plymouth,  O.,  November  5,  1895,  Edgar  Orson,  son  of 
Orson  H.  and  Mary  Mann,  aged  thirty-one  years.  Died  in  Plymouth, 
O.,  December  6,  1S95,  aged  seventy-seven  years,  Mrs.  Julia  Mann  Sey- 
mour, widow  of  the  late  V/ni.  R.  Seymour ;  she  was  a  daughter  of  Jos- 
eph Mann  and  sister  of  Austin  and  Orson  Mann,  of  Plymouth ;  she  was 
the  mother  of  ten  children,  seven  of  whom  survive  her. 

RE-UNION    OF    THE    DESCENDANTS    OF    PLYMOUTH,    CONN.,   FAMILIES. 

Of  the  families  that  went  from  Plymouth,  Conn.,  in  1S13,  there  are 
now  some  400  descendants  of  the  Manns,  Blakeslees,  and  Seymours.  It 
was  decided  to  hold  a  re-union  of  those  living  June  20,  1895,  at  Woodland 
Beach  Park,  near  Ashtabula,  Ohio.  It  was  not  as  largely  attended  as 
could  be  wished,  on  account  of  the  heavy  rain  which  commenced  quite 
early  in  the  day  and  continued  far  into  the  night,  thus  making  it  impos- 
sible for  many  to  get  there.     A  goodly  number,  however,  were  on  hand 


First  Store  and  Post  Oftice, 


early,  and  although  the  rain  made  it  unpleasant  in  some  respects,  the 
affair  was  a  grand  success.  There  were  about  150  or  more  people  pres- 
ent, of  which  were  recorded  iig  names  of  relatives. 

The  occasion  was  indeed  a  very  pleasant  one.  After  some  time 
spent  in  visiting,  dinner  was  served,  which  was  truly  bountiful  and  ex- 
cellent. Dinner  was  followed  by  a  business  meeting,  R.  O.  Rote  of 
Geneva,  being  chairman  of  the  meeting,  arid  Francis  Atwater  of  Meri- 
den.  Conn.,  acting  as  secretary.  After  a  few  brief  remarks,  the  Mann, 
Blakeslee  and  Seymour  Re-union  Association  was  duly  organized,  and 
the  following  officers  were  elected :  President,  William  Seymour;  vice 
president,  Mrs.  Maria  Seymour  Ticknor;  secretar3%  Mrs.  Ellen  S. 
Mann  Lockwood;  treasurer,  Fred  W.  Blakeslee. 

A  committee  of  three,  on  date  of  next  meeting,  were  elected.  After 
which  came  the  reading  of  letters  from  absent  ones. 

The  first  was  from  Bela  Blakeslee  Satterlee,  of  Plymouth,  Conn., 
containing  a  goodly  number  of  "Town  Orders"  given  to  different  men. 


pi.^Mou III,  OHIO.  437 

Amonj;-  thcni  were  Zadoc  Mann,  Titus  Seymour,  Abel  SeyiiKjur,  Jude 
Blakeslee,  Bela  Blakeslee,  Asher  Blakeslee,  Aaron  Dunbar,  and  others 
and  bearing  date  from  1793  to  iSog,  signed  by  Gen.  Daniel  Potter,  Capt. 
Oliver  Stoughton,  Samuel  Blakeslee,  Elijah  Warner  and  others, 
"  Seleetmen  of  the  town." 

Then  came  a  letter  from  Isaac  Matthews,  of  McGregor,  Iowa,  in 
which  he  gave  a  brief  description  of  the  town  of  Plymouth,  Ohio,  from 
1S35  to  1S50,  .speaking  of  man}'  of  the  pioneers  who  have  passed  to  the 
great  beyond,  but  are  not  forgotten. 

A  postal  card  from  Mrs.  Olive  Mann  Isbell,  was  read,  expi-essing 
many  regrets  that  she  could  not  attend,  sending  congratulations  and 
messages  of  love  to  all. 

A  very  excellent  letter  from  Austin  W.  Buffum  of  Tecumseh,  Neb- 
raska, in  which  a  desire  to  be  remembered,  is  earnestly  expressed  ;  also 
a  letter  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  W.  Buffum,  with  regrets  that  dis- 
tance would  not  allow  their  attendance.  One  from  Mrs.  Betsey  Gordon 
of  Pl3nnouth,  Conn.  Postal  from  Mrs.  Emma  Satterlee  Fuller  of  Cleve- 
land. A  letter  from  Mr.  Geo.  Satterlee  of  Chicago,  in  which  ill  health 
prevented  attendance.  Letters  from  L.  W.  and  John  H.  INIann  of 
Ocala,  Fla.,  with  best  wishes  to  all.  A  letter  from  ]\Irs.  Eleanor  Paine 
was  noticed,  wishing  to  know  if  Milton  Phelps  was  yet  alive. 

Others  were  from  Carlos  A.  Mann  of  Portland,  Oregon,  and  Mr. 
Henry  Seymour  of  Waupacca,  Wis.,  all  of  which  tell  of  the  love  that 
binds  us  together  in  kindred  affection. 

Those  present  were : 

Mrs.  Ellen  S.  Mann  Lockwood,  Plymouth,  Ohio. 

]\Irs.  Frankie  Mann  Warner  and  one  child,  Mr.  Wilber  Warner, 
Mrs.  O.  H.  Mann,  Onson  H.  Mann,  son  of  Joseph,  Mrs.  Edgar  O. 
Mann  and  two  children,  Edgar  O.  Mann,  grandson  of  Joseph,  Ply- 
mouth, O. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  O.  Perry  Mann,  son  of  Merritt,  Miss  Flora  M.  Mann, 
Frank  L.  :Mann,  Charles  T.  Mann,  Earl  T.  Mann,  Plymouth,  O. 

James  L.  Flint,  221  West  Prospect  street,  Ashtabula,  O.  ;  Mrs. 
Esther  Mann  Flint,  daughter  of  B.  P.  Mann;  George  Porteus  Flint, 
Estella  M.  Flint,  Sarah  Flint,  James  Beilby  Flint. 

Milan  M.  Sejmiour,  Walter  Seymour,  276  Euclid  avenve,  grand- 
children of  Wm.  R.  Seymour,  Cleveland,  O, 

Merrick  J.  Seymour,  son  of  Wm.  R.  Seymour;  Mrs.  Harriet  Blakes- 
lee Sevmour,  daughter  of  L.  P.  Blakeslee,  John  Mann  Seymour,  William 
Merrick  Seymour,  Plymouth,  O. 

Miss  Lucy  E.  Topper,  Fred  Porteus  Topper,  grandchildren  of  B. 
Porteus  Mann,  East  Plymouth,  O. 

Mrs.  Mary  Castle  Fulkerson,  daughter  of  Electa  ^lann  Castle,  and 
granddaughter  of  Joseph  Mann,  and  daughter,  Mrs.  ^Vdell  Fulkerson 
Smith,  D.  S.  Fulkerson,  Geneva,  O. 

Fred  W.  Blakeslee,  son  of  Garwood  Blakeslee,  Mrs.  Fred  W. 
Blakeslee,  and  two  sons,  Ashtabula,  O. 

Norman  Colb}-  and  child,  Mrs.  Estella  Amidon  Colby,  daughter  of 
Emily  Seymour  Amidon,  daughter  of  Julia  Mann  .Seymour,  daughter  of 
Joseph  Mann.       H.   C.   DeGroodt,  and  Mrs.  Mattie  Amidon  DeGroodt. 


438 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Chauncey  Amidon  and  son,  Moses,  Mrs.  Emily  Seymour  Amidon, 
Ashtabula,  O. 

Austin  W.  Mann,  son  of  Joseph  Mann,  Ashtabula,  O. 

Frank  E.  Harmon  and  wife,  Mrs.  Emeline  Seymour  Harmon,  who 
great  grandfather  was  Zadoc,  grandfather  Warner,  on  her  mother's 
side  ;  her  mother  was  Sevea  Mann,  her  grandmother  was  Amanda  Mann, 
wife  of  Warner,  and  daughter  of  Bela  Blakeslee,  and  granddaughter  of 
Jude.  Mrs.  Harmon's  father  was  Bennett,  son  of  Titus  Seymour,  and 
his  mother  was  Sevea  Blakeslee ;  so  she  is  directly  related  to  all  three 
families — Manns,  Blakeslees  and  Seymours. 

James  White,  whose  mother  was  Fannie,  daughter  of  Zadoc  Mann, 
had  with  him  his  daughter  and  one  child ;  her  name  was  Lucy  White 
Harvey. 

Mrs.  Hobart  Blakeslee,  (Hobart,  son  of  John),  j\Iiss  Lucy  Blakeslee, 
Charles  Blakeslee,  Mrs.  Charles  Blakeslee,  Ashtabula,  O. 

William  Seymour  (son  of  Robert),  Mrs.  William  Seymour,  Ashta- 
bula, O. 

Frank  Harper,  son  of  Loyd  Mann  Harjaer,  son  of  Betsy  Mann 
Harper,  daughter  of  Joseph,  East  Plymouth,  O. 


View  in  Pivmouth  Cemetery. 


Allen  H.  Morgan,  son  of  Julia  Mann  Morgan,  daughter  of  Wm. 
Warner  Mann ;  Mrs.  Hattie  Morgan  and  children — Grace,  Tommy, 
Hazel,  Jasper,  Howard,  Morgan — East  Plymouth,  O. 

Julia  Blakeslee,  daughter  of  Levi  P.  Blakeslee,  Ashtabula,  O, 

Mrs.  Julia  Blair,  granddaughter  of  Henry  Jude  Blakeslee  Seymour, 
Ashtabula,  O. 

Oliver  Perry,  Clayton  Perry,  Mrs.  Flora  Ticknor  Perry,  daughter 
of  Maria  Seymour  Ticknor,  Grigg's  Corners,  O. 

Miss  Mae  Mann,  daughter  of  Watson  E.  Mann,  son  of  Beilby  Por- 
teus  Mann,  son  of  Warner,  son  of  Zadoc,  Astabula,  O. 

Kate  Seymour,  Alice  Seymour,  Clarence  Seymour,  children  of  Rev. 
Edward  Seymour,  supposed  to  be  relatives — cannot  trace  readilv. 


PLYMOUTH,    OHIO.  439 

Elder  Edwin  Dibcll,  claims  distant  relationship  to  one  of  Great 
Grandfather  Zadoc  Mann's  wives,  Kingsville,  O. 

Frank  E.  Mann,  son  of  Austin,  son  of  Joseph,  Plvmouth,  O.  ;  Wil- 
fred M.  Mann,  son  of  Austin,  son  of  Joseph;  Mrs.  Mira  I.  Mann,  wife 
of  Wilfred,  and  daughter  of  Beilby  Porteus  Mann,  and  children— Graee 
Minerva,  Ethel  Lorena,  George  Kenneth  ^lann — East  Plymcnith,  O. 

Frank  Layton  Pancost,  grandson  of  B.  P.  ]\Iann.  and  son  of  Ellen 
Mann  Pancost  Lockwood ;  Alice  Gary  Lockwood,  daughter  of  Ellen  S. 
Lockwood,  East  Plymouth,  O. 

Mrs.  Maria  Seymour  Ticknor,  wife  of  Edmund  Ticknor,  and  daugh- 
of  Henry  Jude  Blakeslee  Seymour  and  granddaughter  of  Titus  Sey- 
mour, Maria  Mann  Wetmore ;  and  Miss  Louise  Elida  Ticknor,  Grigg's 
Corners,  Ashtabula,  O. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Isaac  Hine,  daughter  of  H.  J.  B.  Seymour,  James 
Hine,  Zoe  Hine,  Hubei;  Hine,  Ashtabula  O. 

I\Ir.  and  Mrs.  F.  B.  Ashley,  and  child.  North  Richmond,  Ashtabula, 
County,  O. 

Mrs.  Louise  Harmon  Dickson  (granddaughter  of  Bennet  Sevmour, 
daughter  of  Emeline  Seymour  Harmon),  and  baby,  Dorothy  Dickson, 
Charles  Clare  Dickson,  A.shtabula,  O. 

Beilby  Porteus  Mann,  John  Henry  ;\Iann  (sons  of  Warner  ]\Iann 
and  grandsons  of  Zadoc),  Plymouth,  O. 

John  Josiah  Morgan  (son  of  Julia  RLann  ISIorgan),  East  Plymouth,  O. 

Reuben  Hall  (son  of  Lucy  Seymour  Hall,  daughter  of  Ziba  Sey- 
mour, brother  of  Titus  Seymour),  Dover,  O.  James  Hall,  mo  Bloom- 
field  street,  Hoboken,  New  Jersey. 

Byron  Mann,  Mrs.  Charlotte  j\Iann  and  daughter,  Jessie  Adella 
Mann,  Cherr\^  Valley,  Ashtabula  County,  O. 

Solomon  Phillips,  Mrs.  Eva  Robinson  (daughter  of  Ruth  Mann 
Phillips,  daughter  of  Warner  Mann  by  second  wife),  and  Gertrude  Mann 
Robinson,  Akron,  O. 

Francis  Atwater,  Meriden,  Conn. 

L.  L.  Blakeslee  and  wife,  S.  E.  Blakeslee  and  wife,  J.  A.  Blakeslee 
and  wife,  Mr.  Paden  and  wife,  Mr.  Ferine,  Colebrook,  Ashtabula 
County,  O. 

THE    FIRST    AMKRICAN    TF.ACIIER    IX    CALIFORNIA. 

Mrs.  Olive  ]\Iann  Isbell,  now  living  in  Santa  Paula,  Vetura  county, 
was  one  of  the  earliest  pioneers,  and  teacher  of  the  first  American  school 
in  California.     She  went  from  Plymouth,  Ohio. 

October  i,  1846,  an  emigrant  train  of  twenty-one  wagons — escorted 
by  Col.  John  C.  Fremont  and  a  detachment  of  soldiers  who  had  met 
them  at  Johnson's  ranch — arrived  at  Sutter's  Fort.  Capt.  Sutter  wel- 
comed them  with  characteristic  cordialty,  and  did  everything  possible 
for  their  comfort.  This  company,  commanded  by  Capt.  John  Aram 
and  Dr.  L  C.  Isbell,  had  left  Illinois,  in  April,  for  California,  with  no 
definite  knowledge  of  its  location,  except  that  it  was  somewhere  on  the 
Pacific  Coast.  They  had  made  their  pathless  way  over  plains,  desert 
and  mountains.  By  some  mischance  they  failed  to  meet  the  Donner 
party  at  the  Mississippi ;  passed  them  at  Gravelly  Ford ;  left  them  there 
in  a  quarrel — and  thus  narrowly  escaped  their  tragic  fate.      At   Fort 


440 


HISTORY    OF    PLYMOUTH. 


Hall  they  learned  from  panic-stricken  refugees  returning  to  the  States 
that  war  with  Mexico  had  been  declared.  A  council  was  called  to  de- 
cide whether  they  should  go  forward  or  back.  Women  cried  and  begged 
to  be  taken  home;  men  were  divided  in  opinion.  "What  shall  we  do, 
Olive  ? "  said  Dr.  Isbell.  The  stout-hearted  matron  of  twenty-two  re- 
plied, "  I  started  for  California,  and  I  want  to  go  on."  That  settled  it. 
Others  took  heart,  and  the  train  went  on  undivided.  After  resting  a 
week  at  Sutter's  Fort,  under  orders  from  Fremont,  they  proceeded  to 
the  vSanta  Clara  Mission,  150  miles  .south,  and  reached  it  October  16. 
The  old  adobe  building  of  the  Mission  was  not  an  inviting  shelter  to 
the  hamesick  immigrants,  if  shelter  it  could  be  called  at  all.  There  were 
no  floors  but  the  hard-baked  earth,  no  windows,  no  fire-places,  no  escape 


Mrs.  Olive  M.  Isbell. 


for  smoke,  save  a  hole  in  the  roof.  The  ancient  walls  were  infested, 
and  the  crumbling  tiles  let  the  rain  through  almost  as  copiously  as 
it  fell  outside.  The  section  assigned  them  had  been  previously  used 
for  stabling  horses. 

Col.  Fremont  left  a  few  men  to  protect  the  women  and  children, 
and  took  all  the  able  bodied  to  re-inforce  his  small  army,  preparing  to 
move  southward  to  join  Stockton  at  San  Diego.  Dr.  Isbell  enlisted  as 
surgeon,  and  went  as  far  as  the  Salinas  river.  Here  he  was  seized  with 
•'  emigrant  fever"  (typhoid  pneumonia),  which  compelled  his  return  to 
the  Mission,  where  bv  that  time  the  fever  had  become  epidemic.      The 


ri.vMoLiii,  OHIO.  441 

rains  came  early  that  year,  with  strong  southwest  winds.  There  was 
no  physician  nearer  than  St.  Jose,  and  he  to  be  had  but  once  a  week. 
From  their  well  stocked  medicine  chest  Mrs.  Isbell  distributed  on  an 
average  one  hundred  doses  of  medicines  a  day,  and  for  six  weeks  slept 
in  a  chair  by  her  sick  husband's  side.  They  were  in  an  enemy's  coun- 
try, expecting  daily  to  be  attacked.  Indications  of  treachery  led  them 
to  send  a  messenger  to  Capt.  Webber  at  .San  Jose  for  additional  protec- 
tion, lie  in  turn  sent  to  Yerba  Buena  for  Capt.  Marsten  with  a  com- 
pany of  twenty-five  marines  and  one  cannon  drawn  on  an  ox-cart.  The 
first  intimation  the  immigrants  had  that  help  was  near  was  the  re- 
port of  firearms  in  the  distance.  Climbing  on  the  wall  they  saw  the 
soldiers  trying  to  pull  the  cannon  out  of  the  mud,  while  the  natives, 
concealed  in  the  chaparral,  were  firing  at  them.  Capt.  Marsten  rode  up 
and  asked  the  loan  of  a  white  cloth  for  a  flag  of  truce ;  and  Mrs.  Isbell 
gave  her  wedding  pocket  handkerchief  for  the  purpose. 

In  this  skirmish  two  soldiers  were  wounded:  one  in  the  flesh}^  part 
of  the  leg,  the  other  in  the  head.  Mrs.  Lsbell  and  Mrs.  Aram  dressed 
the  wounds  and  prepared  dinner  for  the  hungry  soldiers.  This  was  the 
much  disputed  battle  of  "Santa  Clara,"  as  seen  by  an  eye  witness. 
Mrs.  Isbell  had  spent  several  nights  in  cleaning  firearms  and  running 
bullets — determined,  if  attacked,  to  aid  in  the  defense.  Another  com- 
pany of  soldiers  from  Santa  Cruz  arrived  soon  after. 

The  winter  was  marked  by  unusual  cold  and  over-abundant  rains, 
and  tested  the  endurance  of  the  settlers.  Flour  at  $S  a  barrel  was  be- 
yound  their  slender  purses,  so  they  subsisted  on  government  rations, 
glad  to  be  saved  from  starvation.  The  few  who  kept  well  were  taxed 
beyond  their  strength  in  ministering  to  the  sick,  and  many  died  under 
distressing  conditions. 

Near  the  end  of  December  Mrs.  Isbell  was  persuaded  to  open  a 
school.  A  room  fifteen  feet  square,  too  dilapidated  for  any  other  pur- 
pose, was  obtained.  It  was  damp,  dark  and  dirty ;  and  after  suffei'ing 
several  daj^s  with  eyes  smarting  from  smoke,  they  were  obliged  to  fore- 
go the  luxurj"  of  fire.  The  school  supplies  were  limited  to  a  few  text- 
books, brought  by  the  various  families.  A  daughter  of  Capt.  Aram, 
now  living  in  Los  Angeles,  says  .she  remembers  distinctly  her  struggles 
with  the  letter  E.  For  want  of  black-board,  slates  or  paper,  the  teacher 
printed  it  on  the  back  of  her  hand  with  a  lead. pencil.  There  were 
twenty-five  pupils  and  the  term  continued  two  months.  It  was  the  first 
American  school  in  the  State. 

In  the  Spring  of  '47  Dr.  Isbell  and  wife  went  to  ]\Ionterey,  wliere 
she  was  induced  to  resume  her  work.  The  school  opened  with  twenty- 
five  scholars,  but  soon  increased  to  fifty-six.  At  the  close  of  the  term, 
three  months,  the  teacher  left  the  school-room  for  ranch  life  at  French 
Camp. 


Sugar  Camp,  Plymouth.  Ohio. 


INDEX— Chapters. 


CHAPTER  I. 

IIIK   TOWN   OF   I'LYMOUTH. 

Act  of  Incorporation,  Describinj^  the  Boundry  Lines  and  the  Stipulations  to  be 

Abided  Hv — Disposition  of  the  poor  of  the  Old  Town— List  of  Incorporators— Grand 

List— First   Officers— Full   List   of   Representatives,  Judges   of   Probate  and  Town 

Clerks.     Page  7. 

CHAPTER  II. 
E.ARLV    HISTOKV. 

The  Wilderness  of  the  Xaugatuck  Valley  First  Penetrated  bv  a  Hunting  Party 
in  1657.— Tunkis  Tribe  of  Indians  Original  Proprietors— Part  of' Waterbury,  Later 
Parish  of  Northbury,  and  One  Hundred  Years  Ago  Incorporated  as  Town  of 
Plymouth.    Page  ig. 

CHAPTER  III. 
CHURCH    HISTORY. 

St.  Peter's  Episcopal  Parish  Established  in  i740~Its  Ministers  and  Other  Inter- 
esting Facts — St.  ^latthew's  Church,  Now  Closed — Terryville  Congregational 
Society,  with  Sketches  of  Pastors— Roman  Catholic  Mission — The  Defunct  Second 
Advent  Chapel.    Page  45. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
THE   "wilderness"   AND   INDIANS. 

Most  of  Litchfield  County  in  1712  an  L'nbroken  Forest  as  Absolute  as  any  on  the 
Continent — Last  Deer  Shot  in  Northbury— Indian  Jack  and  Two  Companions  Were 
the  Only  Indians  in  Plymouth  Within  the  Remembrance  of  People  Now  Living. 
Page  68. 

CHAPTER  V. 
SOME  OF  THE   PIONEERS. 

Sketch  of  Henry  Cook,  the  First  Settler,  Together  with  Other  Biographies  of 
His  Followers  who  Petitioned  to  Make  Northbury  a  Separate  and  Distmct  Parish. 
Location  of  Their  Homes,  Value  of  Estates,  and  What  Disposition  was  made 
of  them.     Page  75. 

CHAPTER  VI. 
REVOLUTIONARY  TIMES. 
The   History   ^lore  or  Less  L'ncertain— Hot-Bed  of   Toryism— Northbury   the 
Home  of  the  Onlv  Tory  Known  to  Have  Been  Executed  in  Connecticut— Last  Pen- 
sioner of  the  W'ar  Born  in  This  Parish,  With  a  Sketch  of  His  Life  and  Enlistment. 
Page  92. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE     CIVIL     WAR. 
There  Were  no  Jlore  Loyal  or  Brave  Soldiers  than  the  Sons  of  Plymouth,  Sev- 
eral of  Whom  Gained  Honorable  Distinction,  while  Others  Met  Untimely  Deaths 
at  the  Front  and  in  the  Very  Heat  of  Battle — Roster  of  Those  Enlisting  of  Belong- 
ing to  the  Town.    Page  99. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE    PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

How  They  Were  Conducted  in  Early  Times— The  Cost  Borne  by  an  Assessment 
on  Each  Parent,  Who  was  also  Required  to  Furnish  Cord  Wood  "and  Board  the 
Teacher  a  Certain  Time — Anecdotes  Told  About  the  Old  Instructors— Half  of  the 
Present  Town  Taxes  Spent  on  Education.    Page  123. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 

Preliminary  Meetings  Held  and  Plans  Perfected  for  the  Celebration  of  the 
Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Town  of  Plymouth — Complete  Account  of  the 
Exercises,  Including  the  Speeches  of  Judge  A.  P.  Bradstreet  and  Other  Orators  of 
the  Day.     Page  13,. 


II. 

CHAPTER  X. 
CLOCK   MAKERS. 

Plymouth  Made  Famous  by  the  Invention  of  Eli  Terry,  who  was  the  Founder 
of  the  Clock  Business  of  America — Other  Prominent  Makers,  such  as  Seth  Thomas, 
Silas  Hoadley,  Samtiel  Camp,  and  Chauncy  Jerotne,  were  all  Natives  of  this  Town. 
Page  2ig.        ' 


CHAPTER  XL 

LOCK     M.AKERS. 
Troubles  Which  Beset  the  Pioneers  of  the  Cabinet  and  Trunk  Lock  Business 
That   was   Established   in   America   by   Terrvville    Men   of  Indomitable  Will  and 
Pluck— Sketches  and  Portraits   of  All— E.  L.  Gaylord,  the  Only  Survivor,  Lives  in 
Bridgeport.     Page  240. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

ANDREW   TERRY   &   CO. 

Sketch   of  the    Founder   of  This  Prosperous   Concern    which    was   One  of  the 

Pioneers  in  the  Malleable  Iron  Industrv— The  Men  who  Have  Successfully  Managed 

and   Kept  it  Running  as  Steadily  Nearly  as  Clock  Work   for  Close  on  to  Half  a 

Century.     Page  265. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES. 

Interesting  Reading  About  Past  and  Present  People  of  Plymouth,  Commencing 

with  Judge  Augustus  H.  Fenn,  Now  the  Foremost  of  those  who  reside  elsewhere, 

and  Many  Others  who  Have  Attained  Wordly  Fame— Illustrations  of  Subjects  and 

Buildings.     Page  273. 

CHAPTER    XIV. 
SOCIETIES. 

Plymouth  Grange,  No.  72,  Patrons  of  Husbandrv,  Organized  December  7, 1877 — 
Sedgwick  Council,'  No.  21,  O.  U.  A.  M.,  Instituted  March  16,  18S7— Court  Nutmeg, 
No.  1404,  Chartered  October  20,  iSgs— The  Terryville  Cemetery,  With  Views  From 
Several  Points.    Page  421. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

PLYMOUTH,   OHIO. 
Offshoot  of  Its   Namesake  in  Connecticut  and  the  First  Episcopal  Parish  in  the 
State  of  Ohio— Descendants  of  These  Early  Settlers,  Numbering  Four  Hundred  or 
More,  Organize   Themselves    as    the  "Mann,    Blakeslee    and    Seymour    Re-union 
Association."     Page  42). 


Index— Illustrations. 

Page 

Plymouth  Training  Ground 2 

South  Street,  Plymouth 8 

Main  Street,  Plymouth 8 

Winter  Scene,  South  Street,  Plymouth 8 

Old  Grave  Yard,  Plymouth 12 

Thomaston  Reservoir,  on  Plym.outh  Hill 12 

Falls  at  Greystone,  Plymouth 12 

Gorge,  Devil's  Backbone,  Plymouth 15 

Articles  used  to  Seal  Weights  and  Measures 15 

Pastoral  Scene  in  Plymouth iS 

Circular  Dam,  Pequabuck iS 

Wooden  Bridge  at  Thomaston,  Recently  Demolished 18 

Main  Street,  Terryville 20 

Four  Corners,  Terryville 20 

Terryville  School  Children,   i860 20 

Old  Carriage  Shop,  Plymouth  Hill 22 

Plymouth  Hill  School  House 22 

First  Iron  Bridge  Over  the  Naugatuck 22 

Terryville  Watering  Trough 24 

Main  Street,  Terryville 24 

Street  in  Terryville  24 

Official  Sheep  Marks 26 

Smith  Homestead,  Plymouth  Center 26 

Town  Building,  Plymouth  Center 2S 


III. 

Page 
Town  Hall,  Terryville 28 

Interior  of  Town  Hall 2g 

Rl'v.  r^utlicr  Hart ,0 

Mrs.   Luther  Hart 30 

First  Congreg^ational  Church ^i 

Rev.  I.P.Warren ,2 

Rev.  Ephraim  Lyman 32 

Rev.  E.  J.  Hawes 3^ 

Rev.  R.  C.  Learned ^^ 

Rev.  11.  E.  Cooley 36 

Rev.  E.  B.  Hillard 36 

Rev.  J.  S.  Zelie 38 

Rev.  C.  H.  Smith 38 

Rev.   Ur.  Burhans ^^ 

Rev.  Wm.  Watson ^^ 

St.  Peter's  Episcopal  Church ^- 

Rev.  David  Lunsden ,6 

Rev.  B.  Eastwood ^6 

Rev.  Emerson  Jessup ,8 

Rev.  J.  M.  Bates ^g 

Interior  View,  St.  Peter's  Episcopal  Church ^g 

Rev.  X.  T.  Scudder 50 

Rev.  W.  E.  Hooker 50 

Rev.  James  Gammack 52 

St.  Peter's  Episcopal  Church  Parsonage 52 

St.  Matthew's  Episcopal  Church,  East  Plymouth 53 

Congregational  Church,  Terryville 5^ 

Interior,  Terryville  Congregational  Church 5^ 

Rev.  Nathaniel  Richardson 56 

Rev.  Merrill  Richardson 56 

Parsonage,  Terryville  Congregational  Church 57 

Rev.  Ed  ■win  R.  Dimock 58 

Rev.  Franklin  A.  Spencer 58 

Rev.   H.  B.  Mead 60 

Rev.  L.  S.  Griggs 60 

Rev.  W.  F.  Arms 62 

Rev.  Wm.  Alfred  Gay 62 

Terryville  Congregational  Church  Clock 64 

Interior,  Terryville  Roman  Catholic  Church 65 

Rev.  M.  J.  Daly 66 

Terryville  Roman  Catholic  Church 66 

Two  Views  of  Jack's  Ledge 72 

Lemuel  Cook,  Last  Pensioner  of  the  Revolutionary  War 94 

Gen.  Erastus  Blakeslee g8 

Capt.  Eugene  Atwater 100 

Redoubt  B,  near  Fort  Alexandria,  Va 102 

Officers,  Second  Conn.  Heavy  Artillery 102 

Surprise  at  Cedar  Creek 104 

Explosion  of  the  Mine  at  Petersburg 104 

The  Battle  of  the  Crater 106 

Upton's  Brigade  at  Bloody  Angle 106 

Burying  the  Dead 108 

Cemetery  at  Anderson ville 108 

Dorence  Atwater no 

Andersonville  Stockade,  Showing  the  Dead  Line iro 

The  Battle  of  Winchester . .   112 

Union  Breastworks  at  Cold  Harbor 112 

Pequabuck  School  House 128 

Terryville  Institute 128 

Interior  Congregational  Church,  Plymouth,  where  Centennial  Services  were  held  170 

Tent  on  Baldwin  Park,  Terryville,  where  Centennial  Services  were  held 170 

Loan  Exhibit,  General  Vie\v ig8 

Exhibit  of  Furniture 198 

Clock   Exhibit 202 


IV. 

Page 

Exhibit  of  Paintings 202 

Miscellaneous  Exhibit 204 

Eli  Terry 218 

Copy  of  Patent  Granted  E;ii  Terry 222 

Profile  Portrait  of  Eli  Terry 224 

Profile  Portrait  of  Mrs.  Eli  Terry 224 

Home  of  Eli  Terry,  Jr 226 

Eli  Terry,  3d 226 

Henry  Terry 228 

Henry  K.  Terry 228 

Henry  K.  Terry,  Jr 230 

Dwight  H.  Terry 230 

Silas  Hoadley 232 

Samuel   Camp 232 

Hiram  Camp 234 

Seth  Thomas        234 

The  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Works 235 

Stephen  G.  Bucknall 242 

John  C.  Lewis 244 

Sereno  Gaylord 244 

William  E.  McKee 246 

Mother  of  William  E.  McKee 246 

James  Terry 248 

James  Terry's  Cottage 248 

E.  L.  Gaylord 250 

Joseph  H.  Adams 250 

Ansel  Gaylord 252 

Deacon  R.  D.  H.  Allen 252 

Warren  Goodwin 254 

James  Mix 254 

Elisha  Mix 256 

James  C.  Mix 256 

Frank  W.  Mix 258 

Willard  T.  Goodwin 258 

Edward  H.  Mix 262 

Henry  T.  Wheeler 262 

The  First  Lock  Shop 264 

The  Old  Foundry,  Front  and   Rear  Views 266 

Andrew  Terry 268 

J.  W.  Clark 268 

N.  Taylor  Baldwin 270 

O.  D.  Hunter 270 

J.  W.  Clark's  Residence 272 

O.  D.  Hunter's  Residence 272 

Judge  Augustus  H.  Fenn 274 

Homer  E.  Cook 276 

J.  W.   Pond 276 

Marshall  W.  Leach 278 

Jason  Clemence 278 

Augustus  Von  Martensen 280 

Mrs.  Rosina  Martensen 280 

Louis  C.  Scheuing 282 

Julius  G.  Beach 282 

James  Hunter 284 

J.  B.  Baldwin 284 

George  H.  Plumb 288 

Gains  Fenn  Warner 288 

Junius  Preston 292 

Henry  A.  Minor 292 

Dr.  R.  S.  Goodwin 296 

Dr.  S.  T.  Salisbury 296 

Dr.  F.  J.  Whittemore 298 

Dr.  C.  W.  Bull 298 

Sarah  E.  Toll es  Plumb 300 


V. 

n               r.-              .                                                                                                                                            P^Sre 
George  Pierpont -joo 

Mrs.  Joseph  C.  Akox -^^2 

A.  Bronson  Alcott ^02 

Louisa  M.  Alcott 304 

Milo   Blakesle y ,04 

Mrs.  Milo  Blakesley 306 

A.  M.  Hlakeslcv ,o5 

A.  P.  Bradstrcct 308 

Frank  W.  Etheridge ,08 

Captain  Leavitt  Darrow ,j2 

Aaron  D.  Wells ,12 

Riley  Scott ,1^ 

Edwin  M.  Talniadgc ,,, 

W.  W.  Bull :^i6 

Mrs.   Betsy  Bull '^ig 

Residence  of  Wm.  W.   Bull ,,g 

Quiet  House,  Plymouth ,,8 

Edward   Langdon 

Birthplace  of  Edward  Langdon 

Residence  owned  by  Mrs.  George  Langdon 

George  Langdon 

Mrs.  Timothy  Atwater,  Jr ,24 

Wvllvs  Atwater .,. . 

j24 

Henry    Atwater .^26 


320 
320 
322 
322 


Barnabas  W.  Root. 


326 


338 


Jonathan  Pond's  Homestead .,28 

Alexander  Pond ,28 

E.  L.  Pond's  Residence ,,„ 

Andrew  Stoughton ,,0 

John  M.  Ward  well .,,2 

Residence  of  W.  G.  Barton -,,2 

Joseph  C.  Barthe ,, . 

Alfred  B.  Renfree ..■,, 

Algelon  H.  Taylor .,,6 

Dr.  W.  W.  Wellington 336 

Gaius  Fenn 

Jason  Fenn 

Elam  Fenn 3^o 

Mrs.  Elam  Fenn 3^0 

Old  Todd  Apple  Tree 342 

Elam  A.  Fenn .   ,  ,._ 

The  Fenn  Homestead , , , 

.544 

Jason  C.  Fenn ,,, 

Rev.  Leverett  Griggs 3-8 

J.  C.  Griggs 348 

Thomas  Bunnell ,., 

Lyman   Tolles 3-2 

Milo   Tomlinson 3,. 

Rev.  Moselev  H.  Williams ., 

Thomas  F.  Higgins 355 

William  Robinson's  Residence 356 

Philip  C.  Ryan 3-8 

The  Ryan  Homestead 358 

William  B.  Ells 360 

Richard  Baldwin's  Residence,  Terryville 360 

Henry  E.  Hinman 362 

Andrew  Gaylord's  Residence 362 

Bennett  H.  .Sutliflfe 364 

Bennett  H.  Sutliffe's  Residence 364 

Joel  Blake.slee 366 

Gen.  Erastus  Blake.slee 3^6 

Oliver   Smith 368 

Byron   Tuttle 368 

Residence  of  Byron  Tuttle 370 


372 
374 


VI. 

Page 
Byron  Tuttle's  Birthplace 370 

Store— W.  H.  Scott  &  Co 372 

Storehouse— W.  H.  Scott  &Co 

Saw  Mill— W.  H.  Scott  &  Co 

Coal  and  Wood  Yards,  Waterbury— W.  H.  Scott  &  Co 

Walter  H.  Scott 3^6 

W.  H.  .Scott's  Residence 376 

Z.  F.  (iranniss 378 

Residence  of  Z.  F.  Granniss 378 

Beach  &  Blackmer's  Store 380 

Nathan  Beach 380 

D.  W.  C.  Skilton   382 

Porter  Sanf ord 38  ■ 

B.  B.  Satterlee 384 

Hiram  Pierce 384 

Henry  S.  Minor 388 

Hiram  Minor 388 

Burr  S.  Beach 3go 

Dr.  William  Woodruff 3go 

R.  G.  Johnson 3q2 

F.   T.   Cook 392 

Philo    Lewis 394 

Lyman  Baldwin 394 

T.  J.  Bradstreet 396 

George  T.  Cook 396 

E.  L.  Perkins'  Residence 398 

Prosper  Warner 398 

David  D.  Warner ^oo 

Markham  Scott ^00 

Residence  of  Mrs.  G.  H.  Bates 402 

F.  H.  Kellogg 402 

J.  S.  Hemingway 404 

Enos  Blakeslee 404 

Hon.  John  Birge 406 

John    Henry    Wood ^^o6 

A.  B.  Curtis 408 

Chloe  Cook   Barnes 408 

Elias  Smith 410 

Elias  Smith  Homestead 410 

Joel  Griggs 412 

Martin  Griggs 41a 

Franklin  P.  Wilcox 414 

Wilbert  N.  Austin 414 

A.  S.  Kelsey 416 

Andrew  Fenn 416 

Andrew  Fenn  Homestead 418 

Mrs.  Benjamin        Fenn 418 

L.  H.  Ploucquet,  Master,  Plymouth  Grange 420 

General  Sedgwick 420 

L.  W.  Belden,  Chief  Ranger 422 

Terry ville  Cemetery — View  from  Southeast  Corner 422 

Soldiers'  Monument 424 

View  from  Northeast  Corner 424 

New  Addition  to  Westward 424 

View  of  Center  of  Cemetery 425 

PLYMOUTH,  Ohio. 

St.  Matthew's  Church 430 

St.  Matthew's  Church  Parsonage 432 

Plymouth  School 434 

First  Store  and  Post  Office 436 

View  in  Plymouth  Cemetery • 438 

Mrs.  Olive  M.  Istaell 440 

Sugar  Camp. 442 


7 


,*. 


University  of 
Connecticut 

Libraries 


